Review of The Man from Elysian Fields (2001) by Edith N — 12 Apr 2011

A Shadow Puppet Play, Not a Story.

Curiously, the thing which bothers me most about this flat little work is that they make such a fuss about Pasadena and then get vast amounts of the geography all wrong. For one, no one in Pasadena who really loves to read would ever bother with a Barnes & Noble. They probably have book signings there, but the place in Pasadena for that is Vroman's, on Colorado Boulevard. I saw Sue Grafton, Madeleine L'Engle, and Anne Rice there. My mother saw Walter Cronkite, Ken Burns, Jimmy Carter, and many others. (Including Sue Grafton and Anne Rice!) Honestly, I don't even know where a Barnes & Noble is in Pasadena. There was a bookstore of some sort in the mall, but I understand the mall isn't there anymore. Maybe there's one nearer Old Town, which does get a brief appearance. However, most of the really distinctive buildings shown are in Los Angeles, so what's the point of making Pasadena a Thing?

That fine actor, Andy Garcia, plays Byron Tiller, one of those guys who had one book sell and felt he could quit his job and make a living at writing. Except his one book ends up in the remainder bin, of course. His wife is working at a record store while he writes his next book, which the publisher won't even accept because who reads that crap? One day, he meets Luther Fox (Mick Jagger). Luther runs Elysian Fields, a high-end male escort service for bored and wealthy wives. Byron tells his wife, Dena (Juliana Margulies), that he is meeting with the Book of the Month Club to consider making his book, which he has not told her hasn't sold, a selection. Instead, he is meeting with Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), wife of Tobias (James Coburn), who has won three Pulitzers and whom Byron studied in college. Tobias Alcott is sanguine about his wife's affair and in fact asks Byron to read his new book, hoping for an honest opinion. And honestly, it's terrible. But Byron has this idea . . . .

The thing is, all these people feel like paper dolls. Andrea is described at least twice as having the face of an angel, and that appears to be what she's for. She's there to be pretty and provide a link between Byron and Tobias. She's also there because it's important that Byron be treated as a whore, which in fact he is. Dena is there to be the Good Woman Betrayed. The first night Byron spends with the Alcotts, I'm not even sure what story they told Dena. He was just sitting at their breakfast table the next morning. By the time Dena has had enough, he's spending pretty much all his time with them and none at home. There is also Nigel (Michael Des Barres), there to be a mirror in which Byron does not want to see himself. And, you know, man-whore Mick Jagger sleeping with inexplicable Anjelica Huston. I think she's supposed to be there to add depth to his character, or maybe to make the life Byron loses seem so much better. It doesn't work for me.

I do think it was filmed well, honestly, which just made it all the more disappointing. I can't ever live there again, but Pasadena does have some charming places in part left over from the colonial days. Of course, a lot of the things shown here were actually Los Angeles proper, but they still do film it to good effect. Los Angeles is the dream, but Los Angeles is also the land of loneliness. It's really big. Spread out. Even just Pasadena keeps on going. Los Angeles is full of places we go through. My mom's house is miles from my old high school, and while I know approximately what's between them, a lot of the neighbourhoods are places to go through on the bus. And, yes, Los Angeles is a town of secrets, but it's because there are so many places to hide them. Byron (and ye Gods, there's a bit of a pretentious name) uses a phone in front of the old Tower Records building, many miles from home. Ambassador Auditorium isn't very far from Old Town--just a couple of blocks. But there's still a sense of distance which the filming helps explore.

Once again, we have hit one of those movies with a wasted cast. Fortunately, it wasn't James Coburn's final movie, though I haven't seen the movie which actually was. But for all my teasing (which is based on a one-off reference on KROQ in the early '90s), Andy Garcia actually is a fine actor. Juliana Margulies hasn't done a huge amount worth watching, but she's not a bad actress. Mick Jagger . . . well, is Mick Jagger. Olivia Williams is beautiful and charming. And honestly, I think you could do a really great movie out of the feeling of isolation these people have. There's also an interesting movie in the idea that writers are, in the end, selling themselves no less than the "escorts" Byron ends up becoming. However, Pasadena is just a stage, and the people in it are merely shadows. The writing parts of it don't ring true. Somehow, the two men working together produce the Greatest Work of All Time--even though it sounds a great deal like the one Byron's publisher rejects at the beginning.