NZIFF Film Review: "Martin Eden" (2019).

From the director of Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta) comes Martin Eden. This Italian-French historical romance drama film directed by Pietro Marcello, adapted by Marcello and Maurizio Braucci, and loosely based on the 1909 novel of the same nameby Jack London. When Martin falls in love with wealthy and well educated Elena, he is caught between his dreams of rising above his humble origins to become a writer, his love for the woman he hopes to marry and his political reawakening that leads to conflicts with her bourgeois family.

Published in 1909, American author Jack London's novel follows a young proletarian autodidact struggling to become a writer. It was first serialized in The Pacific Monthly magazine from September 1908 to September 1909 and then published in book form by Macmillan in September 1909. The central theme of Eden's developing artistic sensibilities places the novel in the tradition of the Künstlerroman, in which is narrated the formation and development of an artist. Eden differs from London in that Eden rejects socialism, attacking it as "slave morality" and relies on a Nietzschean individualism. Nevertheless, in the copy of the novel which he inscribed for Upton Sinclair, London wrote, "One of my motifs, in this book, was an attack on individualism (in the person of the hero). I must have bungled it, for not a single reviewer has discovered it." 

By May 2018, Luca Marinelli, Carlo Cecchi, Marco Leonardi, Jessica Cressy, Vincenzo Nemolato, Denise Sardisco, Carmen Pommella, Autilia Ranieri, Savino Paparella, Elisabetta Valgoi, Pietro Ragusa, Maurizio Donadoni, Chiara Francini, and Giordano Bruno Guerri were cast. At the same time, with a budget of EUR3,800,000, principal photography commenced, filming took place in Naples, Italy, and was shot on Super 16mm.

The film stars Marinelli, Cecchi, Leonardi, Cressy, Nemolato, Sardisco, Pommella, Ranieri, Paparella, Valgoi, Ragusa, Donadoni, Francini, and Guerri. Where the film occasionally goes fuzzy, Marinelli's performance gives the movie its backbone as it tells the story of a provocateur who loses his grip when society becomes used to him.

Pietro Marcello's film is a tale of meteoric rises and spectacular falls, just not in the way most people imagine them. A sweep of cinematic history earned by the film's aspirations. No film could replicate the tragic weight of London's work, but this comes awfully close. It suffers from a lack of clear direction, leading to its many excellent pieces never quite fitting together. Despite that, as a love letter to Italy's past and a unique historical drama, the film does have something to offer audiences. By weaving Martin's ideological journey and Italy's political and social trajectory as it heads toward fascism, Marcello captures the spirit of London's novel as he crafts an ambitious and haunting film. The writing is tight, the acting is solid, and the cinematography from Alessandro Abate and Francesco Di Giacomo is lush: rich colors, deep blacks, grainy texture from the Super 16mm. In his mostly successful filmic adaptation of London's novel, Marcello transposes with ease London's Oakland novel to the seaport of Naples.

Simon says Martin Eden receives:

Also, see my reviews for Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta) and While at War (Mientras dure la guerra).