(still working on that Lone Wolf & Cub essay - so this one will be relatively short too. It’s funny how something (LWC) you’ve loved so intensely for so long, you’ve thought about and re-read, becomes that much harder to work on once the time comes. Sometimes a personal passion gets in the way of good writing. Hopefully it’ll come out the stronger for it, eventually when I’m done!)
But anyways…. East of Eden
My friend, one of the truest cinephiles I’ve ever met, hosts a weekly film screening at his apartment — wherein he chooses classics across the spectrum from Filmstruck (highly recommend). He’s screened things like Johnnie To’ MISSION to Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and, as I previously posted, ADVISE AND CONSENT.
This week was EAST OF EDEN by Elia Kazan, adapted from the Steinbeck novel. This was James Dean’s first real role — coming on the heels of bit work and minor TV roles. He was amazing, though I was more taken with Julie Harris’ sensitive, self-aware yet raw emotional performance to be honest. Dean was fascinating to watch because of his physical discomfort, his sort of manic shyness and bursts of rage while Harris was the glue of the film, the glue that held all the characters together.
Basically, it’s the re-telling of Cain and Abel (Dean is Cain, ostensibly) in 1917 rural California around Salinas and Monterey, just before the U.S. joins the war effort. The most fascinating thing about the film to me was how conflicting the ending is — I guess I won’t get into spoilers here, but generally, the happiness imposed on the ending really does feel difficult to absorb given all that’s happened leading up to it. One brother is destroyed, self-abused and going to the war (though how good a guy he was is in of itself a difficult question to answer). The father is physically, mortally wounded and disabled. And though there is a love story that comes to fruition, it comes at the price of all this - though Abra (Julie Harris) seems to be the only one capable of redeeming the whole situation, the only one available of giving unconditional love while also understanding the gray zones of morality that Cal (Dean) inhabits. It’s a complicated, almost abrupt conclusion to a very winding and emotional tale. I think I liked it, regardless! It was my first Kazan film, and I’m a big fan — he really pulls the viewer into unique emotional moments by setting things a little off-kilter, but combining angles and unusual character movement on screen (the swing scene, the masterpiece moment). I look forward to watching more of his work - maybe ON THE WATERFRONT should be next… Anyway, it’s worth the watch!
