ADRIFT // A FILM REVIEW OF "MARTIN EDEN"

BY MATEO MORENO

Jack London's work has been brought to the cinema over and over throughout the years. From The Call of the Wild, White Fang and countless others, his imagination has found its way on the big and small screen for decades. MARTIN EDEN, which has been adapted before (on the big screen in 1914 and 1942 and a mini-series in 1979), is the most biographical of London's work but perhaps not that well known in America. Hopefully this luscious Italian adaptation will change that. 

Luca Marinelli plays Martin, a young sailor who witnesses a young man named Arturo being attacked. He intervenes and saves the young man. Arturo takes Martin back to his family home to thank him for his help. Martin is blown away by the wealth of the family and size of their home. He is also immediately taken aback by Arturo's sister Elena (Jessica Cressy). They are both drawn to each other, despite the class difference, and Elena begins to introduce him to literature as well as helps Martin with his grammar. Determined to win her love, Martin sets out to become a more educated man. He devours the books he reads, hungry to learn more. Elena is impressed and quite smitten herself, as they find themselves in a love that few in her family will be supportive of. Martin becomes more sure of himself and begins to write himself. Though each time he sends one away to a publisher, they come right back to him, rejection after rejection. Elena thinks his writing is too dark, too sad and wants him to write more inspirational tales. But Martin is writing from his own life experiences, which are vastly different than her own. Finally, one of his stories is published and just like that, he becomes an overnight sensation. But success changes Martin, and the joy and light that was once spilling out of him threatens to become pure bitterness and anger.

There's a lot of ground covered in MARTIN EDEN, but director Pietro Marcello takes all of the subjects (class divide, star-crossed lovers, socialism, individualism) and spins them into a beautiful film. As Martin, Marinelli is dynamic (he won Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival last year). He screams of a young Robert DeNiro, fresh faced, tough but tender and ready to take over the world. He also handles the changing of Martin over the years with a tremendous success. The gorgeous cinematography from Alessandro Abate & Francesco Di Giacomo is spliced together with archival footage from the early 1900's Italy. 16mm film of a working class life trying desperately to not be forgotten. It's quite powerful, as is the film itself. Though Martin can sometimes be a bit of a pain, you never stop understanding his struggle and journey. The passion is always there (largely thanks to the performances by Marinelli and the ensemble of a cast). It's a sublime film, one that feels like it could have been made during the Italian Neorealism period of the 40's/50's. It's already timeless.

GRADE: A

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Jack London SCREENPLAY BY Maurizio Braucci, Pietro Marcello DIRECTED BY Pietro Marcello STARRING Luca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy, Vincenzo Nemolato, Marco Leonardi, Denise Sardisco, Carlo Cecchi. Now playing in select cinemas and in Virtual Cinemas through Kino Marquee.

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING? // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "THE IRON HEEL"

BY MATEO MORENO

To make a theatrical evening out of a Jack London novel takes all sorts of bravery. For starters, his writing can be dense. It’s sometimes hard to image it translated to another medium. And his work is already beloved, so how to adapt it? Well, Untitled Theatre Company #61 have never backed down from what has seemed like an uphill battle before, and so they continue to charge ahead here, with splendid results. THE IRON HEEL, written in 1908 and considered by many to be “the earliest of the modern Dystopian,” imagines (or predicts) an alternate future, a future where the working class triumph. It correctly predicted several things to come, such as the rise of the socialist party and the shrinking of the middle class. Edward Einhorn’s adaption here stages the events in a nontraditional way, and in nontraditional venues (my evening was presented in The Great Room at South Oxford Place in Brooklyn). The evening begins as the cast strum along to acoustic guitars, singing songs of the working man, of fighting for your rights. Songbooks are passed out so that the audience may sing along (and in my evening, many did). And away we go to the 27^th century.

Part musical, part play, and part Brecht-ian fantasia, THE IRON HEEL succeed on almost all levels because of its earnest and un-ironic nature. The straight forward storytelling draws you in, a refreshing change from today’s usual offerings of wink-wink irony. A unique thing about THE IRON HEEL novel was that it was rare for a male writer to have a female protagonist. And so Einhorn continues that with Yvonne Roen being our voice in. She functions as the narrator, a historian who (along with a group of actors) re-enact the events of America's working and middle class battled against those with an "iron heel" some hundreds of years ago. The purposely loose-knitted plot revolves around the Everhard Manuscript, detailing the events of the socialist hero, Ernest Everhard (played by Charles J. Ouda), and his wife Avis, played by Victoria Rulle. The cast acts out the story, breaking character often and questioning what certain things mean and if it's actually what they themselves fully believe. It's a play full of ideas, both powerful, humorous, and adventurous.

Yvette Roen is great as our window into the world of their past, of the world of the working man's struggles. As is the rest of the cast/musicians, notably a lively Trav SD, a commanding Victoria Rulle, a powerful Charles J. Ouda, and an ensemble that is always present and alluring. It's a thought provoking night of theatre, one that I hope Einhorn and his merry group of travelers will bring back from time to time.

GRADE: B+

Based on the novel by Jack London Adapted and Directed by Edward Einhorn Starring Craig Anderson, Kevin Argus, Charles Ouda, Yvonne Roen, Victoria Rulle and Trav SD. Now closed but most recently played at: South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn and various locations

is an actor, writer, and a playwright. His plays Happily After Tonight,  Within Our Walls, Bohemian Valentine and Paper Airplanes have been produced in NY and beyond. He is currently workshopping his new play Fairground Attraction as part of Athena Theatre's 2016 Playwrighting Group. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.