Review of East of Eden (1955) by Mark Z — 22 Jan 2008

Dammit! Now James Dean has to be on my all time favorites list. Only a few months ago, I reviewed Rebel Without a Cause and Dean blew me away. Forget Rebel (okay, don't! because it's still amazing, but...) East of Eden is one of those absolutely perfect films that I can't wrap my head around. Pretty soon, I'm going to be re-editing my top movies of all time and I'll try to watch them all in order. I have a feeling East of Eden will be on this top films list. It doesn't happen very often, but this movie really wanted to get me to read the book. (How ignorant do I sound there? I actually read quite a bit, but rarely does a movie inspire me to read.).

A pretty common theme in art is "good v. evil" and questions whether these traits are genetic or are they taught? East of Eden says "F*ck both of your ideas, it's both!" And here's the real kicker: It presents this concept naturally and earnestly. Usually the good kid really isn't that good and the bad kid really isn't that bad. Perhaps it is moral superiority that creates evil in the world. The two concepts cannot exist without one another and that makes my brain melt through my ears.

Elia Kazan has yet to disappoint me. I know I'm not really standing on appointment to scream Elia Kazan's praises, at least not in theatre circles. But Kazan really doesn't get the attention that directors such as Hitchcock or Billy Wilder get. While Hitchcock and Wilder either write their own stuff or adapt popular novels, Kazan always seems to harken back to the classics. But in some regard, some of these classics wouldn't have the notoriety they do without Kazan's adaptations. Sure, Streetcar will always be amazing play, but can you think of it without thinking of Brando's "Stella" line? Kazan has the unique ability to make his adaptation of the original source material as important as the initial printing.

Yes, East of Eden is a classic. It's John Steinbeck, for goodness sakes. But it really isn't as known as certain classics. If you haven't seen this film, by all means do. This movie was a fantastic add to my week.