Review of Genius (2016) by Susan W — 21 Jun 2016

Despite Jude Law's hyperactive performance and clanging Southern accent, this movie is better than the critics would have you believe.

I want to challenge the criticism of the grayness of the office settings. I thought them realistic. Many years ago, when I saw Amistad and thought the light and the smokiness of the interiors was absolutely correct. By coincidence, I happened to be a doctor's waiting room where there was a copy of a journal for cinematographers with an article by Spielberg's long time chief cameraman, Janusz Kaminski on how he obtained what he thought was an authentic 18th C look rather than the brightly lit Hollywood look. I think the same thing happened with Genius. To me, offices of the early 20th C had to be dim because there were no ceilings full of florescent lights as there are today.

Colin Firth is a very still, almost meditative performer. Why his Max Perkins always wore a hat was puzzling as was Firth's forced smile. Beyond those criticisms, Firth's portrayal of an editor, mentor and friend to Wolfe, who was almost young enough, but not quite, to have been his son, was strong. That's Firth's talent. Despite his stillness, his audience can still sense the proper emotions.

I know nothing of Thomas Wolfe as a person. Was he as outgoing, confident and ebullient as Jude Law portrayed him? As another audience member said, "Jude Law was over the top several times." His Southern accent sounded rather like one an amateur actor might assume for the first time.

However, when Law allowed moments of reflection, his character became sympathetic.

The brief performance of Dominic West as Ernest Hemingway was Hemingway as you might imagine him: bluff and full of bravado. Guy Pearce as Fitzgerald -- a writer I think of us as a one-trick pony with beautiful prose but obsessed with the quest for a woman -- was my image of Fitzgerald.

And the women. There was a feminist stance shading this script. Both Wolfe's love interest and promoter, costumer Aline Bernstein (Nicole Kidman), and Louise Perkins (Laura Linney) are shown to be disregarded, if not victimized, by overt and more subtle patriarchy and playing a secondary role to the men in their lives.

I may be biased as a writer and editor, but, I found this an entertaining and enlightening film. I would consider it a must see for anyone aspiring to write or to teach writing.