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My Salinger Year

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My Salinger Year
Official poster
Directed byPhilippe Falardeau
Screenplay byPhilippe Falardeau
Based onMy Salinger Year
by Joanna Rakoff
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySara Mishara
Edited byMary Finlay
Music byMartin Léon
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • February 20, 2020 (2020-02-20) (Berlinale)
  • March 5, 2021 (2021-03-05) (Canada)
Running time
101 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Canada
  • Ireland[1]
LanguageEnglish
Box office$236,653[2]

My Salinger Year is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based upon the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff. It stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seána Kerslake, Colm Feore and Brían F. O'Byrne.

The film had its world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 20, 2020. It is scheduled to be released in Canada on March 5, 2021, by Mongrel Media.

Plot

In 1995, Joanna, an aspiring writer and poet, leaves Berkeley, California and her boyfriend Karl and moves to New York City where she takes a job at one of New York's oldest literary agencies run by Margaret. Unbeknownst to Joanna, the agency looks after the interests of the notoriously reclusive writer J. D. Salinger. She has not read any of Salinger's books, including The Catcher in the Rye. She moves into an apartment with a new boyfriend, Don. Margaret does not believe that computers are helpful and makes Joanna type letters for her using a typewriter. In her time at the agency, Joanna's responsibilities include responding to the large volume of fan mail that Salinger is sent. As was agency policy, Joanna responds with a generic response that explained that Salinger did not read fan mail however, she is tempted to give a proper reply to some of Salinger's fans. Her period at the agency coincides with Salinger's proposed publication of the Hapworth 16, 1924 short story that had previously been published in The New Yorker. She helps liaise with the small publisher and goes to Georgetown University for a meeting between Salinger and the publisher, which also coincides with a concert that her old boyfriend is performing in Washington D.C. . Margaret starts to trust Joanna more and lets her read some manuscripts and articles. Don and Joanna are invited to the wedding of Don's best friend, but Don does not initially tell Joanna as he wants to go on his own. While Don is away, Joanna decides to leave him and move out. Joanna sells her first book for the agency and is offered a bigger role at the agency however, she wants to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and quits.

Cast

Production

The film is based on Rakoff's 2014 memoir depicting her time working at literary agency Harold Ober Associates, who acted for Salinger.[3] Phyllis Westberg was Salinger's agent at the time that Rakoff was at the agency (a character called Margaret in the film)[3] and she took over running the agency in 1998.[4]

In February 2019, Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver joined the cast of the film, with Philippe Falardeau directing from a screenplay he wrote. Margaret was to star as Rakoff and Weaver as Margaret, Rakoff's boss. Kim McCraw, Susan Mullen, Luc Déry and Ruth Coady serving as producers under their micro_scope and Parallel Films banner, respectively.[5] In May 2019, Colm Feore, Seána Kerslake and Théodore Pellerin joined the cast of the film, with Mongrel Media and Thunderbird Releasing distributing in Canada and Ireland, with principal photography beginning that month[6] in Montreal.[7]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 20, 2020.[8][9] Shortly after, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film.[10] It is scheduled to be released in Canada and the United Stateson March 5, 2021, by Mongrel Media and IFC Films, respectively.[11][12]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes collected 21 reviews and identified 67% of them as positive, giving the film an average rating of 6.10/10.[13] According to Metacritic, which sampled seven critics and calculated a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[14]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian panned the film, awarding it one out of five stars and calling it a "bafflingly insipid, zestless, derivative film – a simperingly coy knock-off of The Devil Wears Prada without the sexiness and fun."[15]

References

  1. ^ a b "Berlinale Archive: My Salinger Year". Berlinale. 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  2. ^ "My Salinger Year". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Kohn, Eric (February 20, 2020). "'My Salinger Year' Review: Margaret Qualley in Half-Hearted Twist on 'The Devil Wears Prada'". IndieWire. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  4. ^ "History of the agency". Folio Literary Management. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  5. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (February 8, 2019). "Sigourney Weaver, Margaret Qualley to Star in 'My Salinger Year' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (May 16, 2019). "Sigourney Weaver-Starrer 'My Salinger Year' Pre-Sells to Major Territories for Memento (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  7. ^ Victoria Ahearn (2020-01-24). "Falardeau's 'My Salinger Year' will open the Berlin film festival". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2020-09-28. He shot it last summer in Montreal and a few days in New York.
  8. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (January 24, 2020). "Berlin Film Festival To Open With 'My Salinger Year' Starring Sigourney Weaver & Margaret Qualley". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  9. ^ Roxborough, Scott (January 24, 2020). "'My Salinger Year' to Open Berlin Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  10. ^ McNary, Dave (May 19, 2020). "Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley Drama 'My Salinger Year' Sold to IFC Films (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  11. ^ "My Salinger Year". Mongrel Media. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  12. ^ "My Salinger Year". The Numbers. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  13. ^ "My Salinger Year". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  14. ^ "My Salinger Year Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (February 20, 2020). "My Salinger Year review – bafflingly insipid Berlin opener clunks hard". The Guardian. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
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