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entertainment Hanks portrays a stubborn widower in the new movie adaption of "A Man Called Ove" by Kat Otey
T
he newest adaptation of “A Man Called Ove'' (2012) changes the story in a few ways — the most obvious in the new name “A Man Called Otto.” The book was originally published in Sweden, where Ove is a much more common name than it is in America. And while this new movie, starring Tom Hanks as Otto Anderson, contains many differences from both the original novel and the first screen adaptation (2015), it overall evokes the same wide emotional range of hope, despair and humor. A favorite of mine, “A Man Called Ove” (written by Frederik Backman) follows your stereotypical grumpy old man character archetype: a go-to for tearjerkers and sappy, fluffy stories, albeit not one I generally find myself reading. “A Man Called Ove” hooked me in from the first description of Ove trying to buy a “regular old computer” from a millennial at the Apple store. Similarly, “A Man Called Otto” begins with Otto buying five feet of rope (he does not want six feet of rope, and he is explicitly clear that he will not be paying for two yards of rope when he is only buying five feet). The seemingly lighthearted scene sets up Otto’s character: an impatient, old fashioned yet practical man who has very
little tolerance for those who interfere with the routine of his life. It has the same sense of humor as the beginning of the book, with the exception that it is clear from what he buys in the movie that Otto plans to kill himself. The movie continues in a lighthearted way, but with the darker undertone of Otto’s inner turmoil. Beneath all of his rigid schedules and protection of his neighborhood, he feels that his life is not worth living ever since his wife died. In fact, the ongoing joke, handled tastefully with both acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation and humor, is the constant interruption of Otto’s attempts to depart. From various sources, these interruptions — during very vulnerable times — allow Otto’s relationships to develop with the people around him, both new and old neighbors in his carefully maintained neighborhood. As the movie progresses, we begin to see Otto get closer with those around him, even if he won’t admit it. While “A Man Called Otto” was shot with a dull, neutral palette, it is the emotions that stand out in glaring color. The movie was both feel-good and solemn, a very similar experience to the one I had with the book. The plot didn’t move quick-
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Turn that frown
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ly, nor did the characters go through a fantastical journey, filled with magic or romance. It was simply an old man and his life. As an avid believer that teenagers make unpredictable protagonists, the careful progression and subtle moments in this movie felt like something I would watch on a Tuesday late afternoon to make my day a little wittier and more meaningful. Yes, the plot could seem dull or obvious to some people, but the movie for the same reasons felt cathartic. Despite the name change and a reduction of characters for book-to-movie practicality, it evoked as many strong emotions as the book did. I even enjoyed many of the changes in the movie, unlike in others where departures from the book’s original plot make it feel too different. A new character named Malcolm is a teenage paperboy Otto fought with for throwing magazines around from his bike. Malcolm would later show just how kind Otto was when he later came to the old man, whose wife had been Malcolm’s teacher when she was alive, and
PHOTO VIA ROGER EBERT
asked to stay at his house after being kicked out for his identity as a trans man. In the same vein, I saw characters in the book brought to life with showstopping acting like Marisol (Mariana Treviño), the exuberant new neighbor and the first person who can match Otto’s energy with overwhelming enthusiasm and willpower. And, of course, the obligatory pet that the old man archetype adopts to show his soft side, the stray cat. I would not recommend “A Man Called Otto” to those who prefer more of a fast paced, flashy and unpredictable plot, or those who are easily triggered by scenes depicting suicidal actions. For many, however, the movie is more than worth a watch — if only for the adorable enemies to friends arc of Otto and the neighborhood stray cat.
'The Tell-Tale Heart' "The Pale Blue Eye" falls short of having an engaging storyline despite its loaded cast by Scarlett Mische
“
The Pale Blue Eye” — just thinking of this movie brings tears to my eyes and not in a good way. Seriously, after finishing this movie I sat in silence, crying about the 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life that I will never get back. “The Pale Blue Eye” is a film adaptation of a novel written under the same name. The film centers around detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) and cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) on their journey to solve a series of strange murders. However, this “journey” is closer to the feeling of leisurely getting ready for school before realizing that you are actually twenty minutes late to class. The character development, to put it kindly, was not the best. I knew nothing nor was I interested in knowing anything about a single one of these characters, I couldn’t even distinguish one character from another and I felt no empathy towards any character in this movie. Sure, I may have had moments of compassion, but never a true empathetic connection as one would normally have with any intricately-made, complex character. So, let's start out with the one enjoyable character in this movie (or as enjoyable as a character can be in this movie), Edgar Allan Poe. The portrayal and casting of Poe was truly spot on. Melling fits this role. He made some incredibly dull scenes about five times brighter. Towards the beginning of the movie, when sightings of Poe were rare, I felt
bored and on the verge of sleep. The cool tones associated with other characters were terribly drab, and I wasn’t able to focus on the movie at all; once Poe entered with the warm-toned setting that I’ve come to think of when thinking of him, my attention was immediately redrawn to the scene. The joy in having Melling on screen was that I never knew quite what to expect and that was particularly gratifying, considering how predictable everything else in this movie was. Unfortunately, the main character of this movie, Augustus Landor, was not quite as fun to have on screen as Poe. Now, I’m going to first and foremost address that I do not like Christian Bale, nor do I understand why people find him to be such a phenomenal actor. Maybe this aversion comes from his portrayal of Batman and
my dislike for comic-movie inaccuracies; however, one will never truly know why I loathe Christian Bale. Yet, even while keeping my bias aside as best as possible, I still could not see a “spectacular, astounding Academy Award winner” while watching Bale’s portrayal of detective Landor. He lacked personality. There was no distinctive feature about him. He was bleak, and as the movie title suggests, “pale” throughout the entire movie with no shades deeper than a ghostly blue. It may be due to the fact that I haven’t read the novel which would lead me to feel so dissatisfied with his character, but I feel that this might not be the case. After researching this movie a bit more, I thought, ‘Perhaps, this is not Bale’s fault, but rather, the director’s.’ But, before deciding that director Scott Cooper was the demise of this movie, I realized that maybe PHOTO VIA NETFLIX it was the
scriptwriter who truly fumbled the bag. Can you guess who the script writer is? No? It’s Scott Cooper. That’s right, Cooper not only gave way for the terrible and bland conversational chemistry between main actors, but he was also in charge of the utterly brittle and pointless words that were spoken between the characters. This is ironic, considering that Cooper was originally an actor who turned to movie directing with the hopes of writing compelling scripts, and that goal has definitely not been achieved. I don’t have much else to say on the matter of Scott Cooper other than that he destroyed what I have heard to be a decent book. What I do have to say is that the hour and a half I waited for there to be any kind of actual plot was not worth it. I wish that I could spread out the action in this movie, so that it isn't all stuck at the end. Anything is better than listening to a couple of rudimentary characters droning on and on about nothingness for most of the movie. When the plot twists started to happen, I actually had the smallest sliver of hope for this movie; however, the movie abruptly stopped. This also abruptly stopped any pretense I had that this film might be okay. Overall, this movie was bleak and lacked foundation. I felt like everything was slow and yet the ending was rushed. At the very least, this movie truly lived up to its name, as it was immensely “pale” and the cool tones of “blue” were constantly hurting my eyes.