Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Indignation (2016)

10/13/2024

Indignation (2016) - Sympathetic if muted Schamus debut

♥♥♥

Two very nice-looking young co-stars seated in a window sill is the unexceptional motif on this poster for James Schamus' Indignation

Marcus is a Jewish boy from New Jersey, a top student with an ambitious mother and a father who is a butcher, and he falls for a different type of girl, when he goes to college in Ohio...

Indignation is written, co-produced and directed by debuting James Schamus (The Ice Storm (1997, writer)), adapting the same-titled 2008 novel by Philip Roth (American Pastoral (1997)).

It is a well-acted portrait of the tightly wound America of the 1950s, a country at the cusp of change, with a thematic core about the relationship between Christianity and atheism, about the individual's right to his own story and perceptions, - and to attempt to convince others of his beliefs.

Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)) and Sarah Gadon (Black Bear (2020)) are good and palatable as the precocious young couple. Tracy Letts (Eric Larue (2023)) is excellent in a supporting part as a Conservative dean. Linda Emond (Only Murders in the Building (2023, TV-series)) as Marcus' mother is also terrific. Schamus succeeds in making the longer, dialog-based scenes vivid and thrilling. SPOILER The ending is somewhat confusing and unresolved: He soon after perishes in the Korean War, while she lives for decades...? Too many balances are cut out, and the title's indignation is never felt. - What here is supposed to leave us indignant? On whose behalf? The young man's, I presume, who is kicked out of college for being himself and not go to church, and therefore sent to war, but the film, - at least from a Christian perspective, - mostly merely portrays a less desirable time.

James Schamus: The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Lust, Caution/色，戒/Sè, Jiè/Sik1Gaai3 (2007) - Lee's erotic spy thriller is an exquisite, complex masterpiece (co-writer)

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama (co-writer)

The Ice Storm (1997) - Lee makes one of the year's great American films (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 3.9 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.39 times its cost)

[Indignation premiered 24 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place from June - July 2015 in New York in just 25 days on a reportedly low budget, here projected at 10 mil. $. The film opened #34 to a 93k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 317 theaters (different weeks), grossing 3.4 mil. $ (87.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 72k $ (1.8 %) and the UK with 54k $ (1.4 %). Schamus returned with a short for 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (2019, anthology) and is hoping to return theatrically with College Republicans. Lerman returned in The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017); Gadon in 11.22.63 (2016, miniseries) and theatrically in The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016). Indignation is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

10/13/2024

Indignation (2016) - Sympathetic if muted Schamus debut

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama (co-writer)

The Ice Storm (1997) - Lee makes one of the year's great American films (writer)

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

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