Review of The Hottest State (2007) by Damian O — 29 Aug 2007

I read Hawke's short novel when it first came out and truth be told I couldn't remember much about it as I walked into the cinema last night to see his film adaptation. But as I watched, everything that kind of annoyed me about the book reared its ugly head and I was kind of shunted back into that particular part of my memory stocks.

It was almost like my mind was suddenly defragged and all the common parts relating to the work joined together. But just as I was ready to curse Hawke for being such an egotistical git the wonderful work of the two leads, Mark Webber and Catalina Sandino Moreno, sprang forward and the film shifted from lighthearted and teen angsty towards something far more painful and honest.

It's far too long, about 30-40 minutes too long really, and Hawke just seems too present from the original source material obviously, to the screenplay, to the direction, to even Webber's speech patterns, to his role in the film, but he's counter-balanced by the two leads and an awesomely good Laura Linney and a once-again really solid Michelle Williams - she is one of the most interesting young actresses going round in my books.

There's a good film here that could have been close to very good if Hawke had known when and where to step aside. As it is it's an adequate debut that is, like its source, both infuriating and invigorating.

It also has a great soundtrack.