American Pastoral Blu-ray Review
Eric Sloss
April 25th, 2017
It’s always a difficult task to adapt a beloved and acclaimed novel into a movie. That indeed is the case with AMERICAN PASTORAL. This of course is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by Philip Roth. The overly earnest film never quite reaches the depths of the novel and doesn’t carry the punch needed for the material.
Author Nathan Zuckerman (David Strathairn), a frequent Roth stand-in, attends his 45th-year high school reunion. He is the narrator of this tale. He runs into his old chum Jerry Levov (Rupert Evans). Jerry is the brother of Seymour “Swede” Levov, the old high school sports star that everyone looked up to. Nathan especially had idolized his life. Jerry though brings him down after informing him of Swede’s death. The narration gimmick sometimes doesn’t work as well as it does in a book. Here it doesn’t quite gel with most of the film and seems out of place.
Swede joined the military at the end of World War II. He came back and married a former beauty queen by the name of Dawn (Jennifer Connelly). His father Lou (Peter Reigert) was skeptical at first because Dawn was Catholic and they were Jewish. Her tenacity though won him over. The couple settled down in the quiet town of Old Rimrock on a spacious farm. Dawn was in charge of the farm and the cows on it. Swede worked at his father’s glove factory and eventually took it over. They soon welcomed a daughter named Merry to their family.
Merry would be a challenge to the family. She had an extreme stuttering problem that she struggled with. Her parents tried to help her in this regard with therapy. All the while, the world was becoming more volatile. The Vietnam War was escalating and the carnage that came with it. The civil rights movement was also occurring. Old Rimrock was not immune from this outside forces colliding. Even though Swede’s factory was employed by 80% African Americans, the factory was hit with some damage.
Merry (Dakota Fanning) was affected by all of this. She started to lash out against her parents and against her country. She was becoming a radical and she would go to New York on weekends to connect with like minded individuals. Merry especially had disdain for her mother and her ways.
The post office of Rimrock was bombed with one person dying and Merry goes into hiding. She is suspected of doing the bombing. Her parents are riddled with anxiety of what happened with their girl and if in fact she did do this. The film then transports into a murder mystery as Swede desperately tries to find his daughter no matter the cost. A mysterious figure named Rita Cohen (Valorie Curry) taunts him with her whereabouts. This is the directorial debut of Ewan McGregor. It is a credible effort. The story though never takes off. It doesn’t help that Connelly does serious overacting in some scenes. There is just a disconnect between what is happening on screen to the audience. I was never drawn in by these characters and the story. Clearly the theme is the disintegration of the American dream, but it doesn’t help when you can’t relate to the characters as much as required.
AMERICAN PASTORAL doesn’t live up to its sterling pedigree. Read the book and skip the movie.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The video was solid throughout. The colors are bright in the beginning with the more hopeful tone and then steadily get darker to match the mood.
Audio: The sound was mediocre. I did have issues with what the characters were saying.
American Pastoral: Adapting an American Classic: (28:02): The producers and actors discuss making the film. McGregor gets plaudits for having a relaxed set.
American Pastoral: Making the American Dream (17:38): This feature is all about the behind the scenes stuff. Costume design, set design, acting techniques and filming aspects are touched upon.
Feature Commentary with Ewan McGregor: McGregor is easy going with his discussion during the film. He states how he films things and what his thinking was on certain shots. He also reveals secrets such as how they made the actors look younger in the beginning.
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