Salinger

A recurring complaint I've read about this movie (I'm more of a movie girl than a film girl, which made it even stranger I'd enjoy a documentary so much) is that it doesn't spend near enough time of Salinger's work itself. Yet that would defeat a lot of the film's unwavering purpose.

A veritable sea of interpretations and impressions of Salinger's published works exist, it is the enigma of the man that is the question, and some of his writing has taken on such an epic and larger-than-the-author stature that even delving in a little would give this film a much different feel, and not in a good way.

I wonder if even a portion of the reasons that Salinger kept so much so to himself and guarded his privacy so very jealousy had to do with that larger-than-the-author reaction, where so much of one's self could be open to misinterpretation based on your art, just as we see in tabloid press about very famous actors, musicians, aristocrats, the extremely wealthy, and whose persona rather than personalities are what are worshipped or disdained.

Salinger is one of those exceedingly rare artists (Kubrick and Bardot are the only ones that come to mind) that basically said, nah, I'm not playing the game. You get some of my art, the rest is for myself or my descendents to choose what to do with, but you don't get me.

8/10

"Salinger" is an intense and educational look into the reclusive life of J.D. Salinger. Salinger is known for his novel "Catcher in the Rye" that continues to influence our culture greatly to this day. He took rejection after rejection to get his works published in the New York Times, until he finally had his breakthrough. But becoming an overnight success doesn't suit everyone.

I think this film is incredible. Salinger was such an influential writer, but was so much of a perfectionist in everything that he did so if anyone disagreed with his stories he would discontinue speaking to them. He had his own personal issues that he worked out through his writing, so when he published his stories he was really putting the most hidden parts of himself out there. When he went away to war it really changed them. The amount of death that he saw was enough to make any sane person crazy, but Salinger was already a little strange to begin with. I love the way this documentary conducts interviews with many different people that knew Salinger throughout the years. It was interesting to see how so many of them hadn't had any contact with him for decades because he would end relationships with everyone so quickly and abruptly. He even replaced his own family with "The Glass Family" which is a series of books he wrote. This film shows footage and pictures of his life, and even includes never before seen images of Salinger in WWII which is very interesting to see. The soundtrack in this film is wonderful because it makes certain scenes so much more intense. There are fantastic cuts and edits done to enhance the emotions and overall this is a very well done film.

I think it was very interesting to see how Salinger had an obsession with innocence. He had many different girlfriends and wives, all of them ranging from 16-20. He always put his work before anything else which had a strain on his affairs, so he never kept the same love interest for long. He was also very conflicted on his works. He wanted so badly to share them, but in doing so he risked putting his inner turmoil out there. When he published "Catcher in the Rye" he thought that here he was, having these thoughts and writing these things that no one had ever imagined before. But when the entire nation had the response "oh my God, someone finally understands how I feel!" Salinger was very shocked. He referred to his characters as if they were real people and he lived more in his stories than he did in reality. This documentary has inspired me to read "Catcher in the Rye" and many of his other works because he seems like such a profound yet tortured writer. I am very pleased to know that after his passing, he left his wishes for his writings. In 2015 his "Glass Family" books will begin to be released, along with some of his other hidden works.

This film is really a conversation about this mans life, so I think that needs to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not this film is for you. It also has some very powerful and intense imagery from World War II which is definitely not something that everyone can handle. I recommend this film for ages 16+ unless you are used to more mature topics and documentaries. "Salinger" is entertaining, heartfelt, intellectual and insightful to the hidden world of this American writer. Overall I give "Salinger" 5 out of 5 stars so be sure to check it out in select theaters near you.

Reviewed by Raven D., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews go to kidsfirst dot org.

This is a fantastic documentary. I read the new book, "Salinger" a week prior and still thoroughly enjoyed the documentary. While there is more information in the book, the documentary provided all the emotion that is hard to derive from a book. It was amazing to see footage of Salinger that had never been released. This is not a one sided portrayal of the author. The film makers successfully show his attributes and weaknesses. None of the interviews were superfluous. The music was gorgeous. I've read criticism about the reenactments of Salinger typing in his room. I thought they were very appropriate and not overused. Errol Morris had many more reenactments in "The Thin Blue Line," but that, too was an excellent documentary. I had HIGH hopes about his documentary when I heard it was going to be released and I was not disappointed in the least.

JD Salinger's work had a big impact on me for years after I read it at 17. I then read all of the short stories and I marveled at their craft but never quite in the rapture that Catcher In the Rye had. "Catcher..." was completely original and it was critical of modern society in a way that made most main stream adults uncomfortable. Having a hate-hate relationship with my parents at the time made "Catcher" a tremendous source of comfort but one does grow up so I haven't thought of the young Holden Caulfield, self-centered prep-school wash-out, for more decades than I care to admit.

But the thought of peering onto the private doings of J.D. Salinger and all of his various trysts is creepy like Norman Bates in Psycho obsessed with his mother and unable to move on psychologically. But I'm grateful to J.D. Salinger for showing me what good writing was but the documentary may have to wait for the published work to bleed out and hold him accountable for that. Whether he was a lousy father or spouse is for the gossip mags to hash out.

". . . I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all." Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

No writer in the 20th century cultivated such an obsessive privacy as J. D. Salinger. As famed as his Catcher in the Rye was, he was equally jealous of his privacy. Shane Salerno's documentary "Salinger" does a modest job highlighting his almost hermit life in New England. However, the above quote reveals as much as any documentary could hope to do the innocence and privacy of Salinger's iconic character and maybe himself.

Otherwise, this doc is occasionally and unintentionally hilarious when it uses the same still photos of Salinger over and over for want of an extant variety. A few of the talking heads are actors who may have no real cred to talk about the author (Martin Sheen, Phillip Seymour Hoffman); at other times the real deals like author and friend A.E. Hotchner and noted writer Gore Vidal comment with insight.

The women such as Joyce Maynard, who lived with him, and his daughter Margaret provide the best insight into his emotional and physical isolation. Beyond these first-hand recollections, it's hard for director Shane Salerno to shake anything new from the Salinger tree of life. The Internet holds the same information.

Then there's the heavy-handed music, most amusingly prominent in the final sequence that reveals what the Internet already has disclosed: Salinger, who died in 2010 at 91, authorized several original works to be released between 2015 and 2020. This information is about the only new material in the documentary.

In the end, Salinger himself is in charge. Most of the commentary is broad and speculative, lacking the inside information the world clamors for. He is as rebellious and disdainful of phoniness as Holden Caulfield. Actually, he probably is Caulfield--I fit right in with the other clueless commentators.

J.D. Salinger remains an enigma and a powerful one at that: "If three people used something I wrote in this fashion, I'd be very troubled by it." Playwright John Guare on crimes by Catcher in the Rye devotees.