The series struggles to find a substitute for the mood of magical-realist fantasy Philip Roth sometimes adopts
PHILIP ROTH’S peculiar genius was to suss out the core of an American myth, inflate it into a grotesque caricature like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon, and fly it off in unpredictable directions, banging and crashing against the architecture. In some novels he starts with a character, like “The Swede”, the blond Jewish assimilationist hero of “American Pastoral”, whose picture-postcard suburban life goes mad in the 1960s along with the rest of the country.
In the first episodes of the six-part HBO adaptation of “The Plot Against America”, produced by David Simon and Ed Burns , very little of this comes across. The series’s mise-en-scène in pre-war Newark, New Jersey, is merely competent nostalgia. The Packards are there, the sound of baseball on the radio and DC-3s overhead, the corner deli with the bestin town. But it feels like the sort of family-friendly recreation Stephen Spielberg might have done.
Another actor with the needed sense of strange gravitas is John Turturro, not coincidentally a Coen Brothers favourite. Mr Turturro plays Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, a South Carolina-born social climber who backs Lindbergh in exchange for what he thinks is power and influence. His pompous condescension to his fellow Jewish temple-goers and his cringing obeisance to the WASPs who run the administration are both marvellous.
If the series feels a bit workmanlike, it may be because it has too much competition. The past few years have left viewers swimming in visions of American fascism, from Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of “The Man in the High Castle” to Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”. More important, it sometimes feels too obvious. The novel was written at a moment when liberal coastal elites were horrified by the presidency of George W.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘Plot Against America’ EP David Simon On Tonight’s Finale, 2020’s “Dark Place” & ‘Wire’ Binge WatchingSPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of tonight’s finale of HBO’s limited series The Plot Against America “I think we’re in a very bad place, and I think that Americans need to …
Read more »
May The Odds Be Ever In The 'Hunger Games' Prequel Movie's FavorA film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' latest novel is in the works from director Francis Lawrence.
Read more »
'Bloodshot' Director David S.F. Wilson Signs With CAAWilson worked in animation and had built a decade's worth of credits of work on video game titles.
Read more »
King Arthur Scrambles To Meet Coronavirus Demand As Flour Sales SoarAmerica’s oldest flour company, King Arthur, is cranking up production to feed America’s new-found passion for baking by chloesorvino
Read more »