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OF MICE AND MEN
Polished melodrama about man caring for retarded brother as they wander during Depression. With its bravura performances, lyrical cinematography, contemporary subtext, this classic tragedy pleases fans of literate, well-crafted drama. - reel.com When a drama pits man against man against the sweeping vistas of nature, it's automatically compelling. When it works, it's an all-encompassing triumph. It calls to -- and satisfies -- the deepest, most primitive impulses. Certainly producer/director Gary Sinise's "Of Mice and Men," set in picturesque California wheatfields, has the in-built advantage of John Steinbeck's great novel to work from. But weighty tones often pose greater adaptative problems than they're worth. What's great about "Of Mice and Men"-the-movie is how a dusty 1937 novel is given life, as if this Depression-era story of migrant workers were written just yesterday for the screen. That's what classics were made for -- to be passed on. Set in the 1930s, the movie introduces Sinise and his retarded lifelong companion, Malkovich, as they run from another spate of trouble. A crying woman is running away, her dress torn. The two friends, their meager bundles in hand, are running in the other direction for their lives, with angry men on horseback and baying hounds in pursuit. They may evade the posse this time but not the trouble. As they'll come to find, they carry it with them. After a wearying bus trip and 10-mile trudge to Soledad, Calif., the unemployed workers arrive at the Tyler Ranch, run by bull-necked Noble Willingham and his combative son Casey Siesmaszko. Sinise, who speaks for his big, silent partner, as he has so many times before, parlays jobs for both of them. It's clear, however, that trouble will return. Gentle but powerful Malkovich is on a collision course with Siesmaszko -- a petty tyrant who doesn't like big men or anyone talking to wife Sherilyn Fenn. As for lonely Fenn, she's spoiling for trouble herself. - Desson Howe |
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