Year of Release: 2018
Director: Marielle Heller
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Jane Curtin, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Stephen Spinella, Christian Navarro, Gregory Korostishevsky
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis and Review:
Marielle Heller has followed her very well received debut feature, "The Diary of a Teenage Girl", with another knock out. The film is based on the autobiography by Lee Israel, and has a screenplay from director Nicole Holofcener (who was originally going to direct it) and Jeff Whitty. The film follows the story of Lee Israel in the early 90s. After having made a career for herself writing a few successful biographies in the 70s and 80s, by the early 90s Israel's career was pretty much dead, with her sole intent being on writing a biography on Fanny Brice, and drinking herself to a stupor. Her polarizing personality didn't win her any friends, and as her debt increased ever so, she started forging letters of famed writers, and selling them to book and antiques dealers. In the space of a year she had forged close to 400 letters. Once some of these letters start raising suspicions on their authenticity, she resorts to her flamboyant friend, Jack, to assist her with the scam.
"Can you ever Forgive Me?" is a character study on a complicated and multifaceted person, one who isn't by any standards, the typical heroine or central character in a film. Lee is a person with a vitriolic sense of humor, one who's not afraid of speaking her mind, and also a person who simply can't relate to others or chooses not to. Her amorous relationships with her partners don't go anywhere, since she doesn't manage to open up enough to trust anyone. When she does bond with Jack, it's a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark and gloomy existence, where solely her elder cat keeps her company. It's a well realized film, powered by two cracking performances from Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. They're perfectly cast, and it's truly fantastic watching their banter and rapport in their scenes together. They alone elevate the tone and spirit of the film, which is otherwise filled with a sadness and longing, from someone who wanted to be something else, and be someone's special self, and never amounted to either. A very good film worth watching!
"Can you ever Forgive Me?" is a character study on a complicated and multifaceted person, one who isn't by any standards, the typical heroine or central character in a film. Lee is a person with a vitriolic sense of humor, one who's not afraid of speaking her mind, and also a person who simply can't relate to others or chooses not to. Her amorous relationships with her partners don't go anywhere, since she doesn't manage to open up enough to trust anyone. When she does bond with Jack, it's a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark and gloomy existence, where solely her elder cat keeps her company. It's a well realized film, powered by two cracking performances from Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. They're perfectly cast, and it's truly fantastic watching their banter and rapport in their scenes together. They alone elevate the tone and spirit of the film, which is otherwise filled with a sadness and longing, from someone who wanted to be something else, and be someone's special self, and never amounted to either. A very good film worth watching!
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