Can You Ever Forgive Me? - Review
Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant
Nobody can resist a story based on true events, especially Hollywood. However, not all have to be grand and large-scale real-life accounts, proven by Can You Ever Forgive Me? Adapted from writer Lee Israel's memoir/confessional, the film is an intimate character study of a complicated woman experiencing the most unbelievable and exhilarating time in her life.
In early 1990s New York, Lee Israel's (McCarthy) writing career is flailing and her biographies on famous women, such as Estee Lauder, end up in the discount section. She sells a prized letter written by comedienne Fanny Bryce as a quick cash-fix but is told that she could much more money for letters with more interesting content. This inspired Lee to become a forger of literary letters and the results are beyond anything that she could have imagined.
Melissa McCarthy is well-known for her work in broad comedies such as Bridesmaids and Spy, and while she has dabbled in dramatic spaces, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a confluence of both of these genres and McCarthy truly shines in her most impressive role, and performance, to date. Lee is a dedicated and talented writer but is too proud to admit that her biographical works are falling out of fashion as the interest among readers simply isn't there anymore. Her refusal to accept this and adapt causes her into financial straits; her apartment is infested with flies, she's months behind on her rent and she can't afford to medicate her sick cat. After her book editor (Jane Curtin) refuses to give her a $10,000 book advance and berates her for her abrasiveness, Lee perchance discovers that forging letters by prominent and acclaimed authors can earn her big bucks. As her financial prospects improve, so do her social ones; she meets Jack Hock, a jobless man who hustles along with his charisma and gift of the gab.
Lee eventually recruits Jack to be her criminal confidant and their friendship and various, immature hijinks are a complete delight to watch. Lee and Jack are two outsiders who form their own unconventional world that spits in the face of polite society by taking light revenge on those who have previously disrespected them. Grant completely relishes the character, unashamedly flirting with much younger men and audaciously telling falsehoods to potential buyers. Meanwhile, McCarthy wields her character's caustic wit to conceal her deep-seated vulnerabilities and fear of emotional intimacy. They find humour, support and companionship in each other after years of solitude and relative isolation and their dynamic creates one of cinema's best and most memorable duos in years.
Marielle Heller, director of the excellent The Diary of a Teenage Girl, takes this small and contained story of crimes and capers and infuses it with deep character exploration in a thoroughly human and sensitive portrayal of loneliness and marginalisation. Lee and Jack relish committing forgery and profiting from their deceit, and their barbed personalities keep others, and us, at arms length. In spite of these obstacles, Can You Ever Forgive Me? never loses sight of its empathy and tender treatment of its characters - and it does it all with a sense of darkly comic sense of humour.
Smartly scripted, thoughtfully directed and wonderfully acted, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is one of the most well crafted and undervalued films of the current awards season.
EB
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant
Nobody can resist a story based on true events, especially Hollywood. However, not all have to be grand and large-scale real-life accounts, proven by Can You Ever Forgive Me? Adapted from writer Lee Israel's memoir/confessional, the film is an intimate character study of a complicated woman experiencing the most unbelievable and exhilarating time in her life.In early 1990s New York, Lee Israel's (McCarthy) writing career is flailing and her biographies on famous women, such as Estee Lauder, end up in the discount section. She sells a prized letter written by comedienne Fanny Bryce as a quick cash-fix but is told that she could much more money for letters with more interesting content. This inspired Lee to become a forger of literary letters and the results are beyond anything that she could have imagined.
Melissa McCarthy is well-known for her work in broad comedies such as Bridesmaids and Spy, and while she has dabbled in dramatic spaces, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a confluence of both of these genres and McCarthy truly shines in her most impressive role, and performance, to date. Lee is a dedicated and talented writer but is too proud to admit that her biographical works are falling out of fashion as the interest among readers simply isn't there anymore. Her refusal to accept this and adapt causes her into financial straits; her apartment is infested with flies, she's months behind on her rent and she can't afford to medicate her sick cat. After her book editor (Jane Curtin) refuses to give her a $10,000 book advance and berates her for her abrasiveness, Lee perchance discovers that forging letters by prominent and acclaimed authors can earn her big bucks. As her financial prospects improve, so do her social ones; she meets Jack Hock, a jobless man who hustles along with his charisma and gift of the gab.
Lee eventually recruits Jack to be her criminal confidant and their friendship and various, immature hijinks are a complete delight to watch. Lee and Jack are two outsiders who form their own unconventional world that spits in the face of polite society by taking light revenge on those who have previously disrespected them. Grant completely relishes the character, unashamedly flirting with much younger men and audaciously telling falsehoods to potential buyers. Meanwhile, McCarthy wields her character's caustic wit to conceal her deep-seated vulnerabilities and fear of emotional intimacy. They find humour, support and companionship in each other after years of solitude and relative isolation and their dynamic creates one of cinema's best and most memorable duos in years.
Marielle Heller, director of the excellent The Diary of a Teenage Girl, takes this small and contained story of crimes and capers and infuses it with deep character exploration in a thoroughly human and sensitive portrayal of loneliness and marginalisation. Lee and Jack relish committing forgery and profiting from their deceit, and their barbed personalities keep others, and us, at arms length. In spite of these obstacles, Can You Ever Forgive Me? never loses sight of its empathy and tender treatment of its characters - and it does it all with a sense of darkly comic sense of humour.
Smartly scripted, thoughtfully directed and wonderfully acted, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is one of the most well crafted and undervalued films of the current awards season.
EB
Comments
Post a Comment