Hemingway is not as cool as he used to be. The full masculinity of his most famous characters, his sincere Frontiersman attitude, his story of physical and psychological abuse (explored in Ken Burn’s characteristic exhaustive documentary). But his influence on “Legend of a Suicide”, David was won short story collection in 2008 about his father’s death in 1980, when van was 13 years old, suggests that Old Ernest still has a lot to offer.
“Sukkwan Island“The 150-page short story in” Legend of a suicide “on which Vladimir de Fontenay’s drama is based on, is permeated by the same parochial male mental disorders that simplified Hemingway and his work. The wilderness has all answers. The only thing that hinders you from your fate is yourself. People – especially women – just get in the way. You get the idea.
The Fontenay’s adaptation is most well regarded as an exploration of the old -fashioned, now removing the taste of depression. In an era before men were worried about modernity and their “role” and long Before they started talking about their feelings, the forest just seemed as the answer to all questions. That is definitely the answer for Tom (Swann Arlaud, Who you may remember as the sexy lawyer from “Anatomy of a Fall”), who pulls his son Roy (Woody Norman) to the island in southeastern Alaska, where he has bought land.
Roy is really the main character and de Fontenay’s film – Like Won’s book – told from the perspective by a son who is increasingly worried about his father, who seems to have put dangerously some practical thought in his large schedule. Tom refers to his isolation and finds it nourishing (at least in principle). Roy only misses home.
Unlike the deserted landscape, which de Fontenay (perhaps incorrectly) does very beautiful, it is that the installation is a fertile country for drama. It’s easy to see why won a decade for writing “Legend of a suicide”, and seems to have spent decades thinking about the time he spent spending time with his father. The suicide of the father’s father is the lens through which he sees his own anxiety, an explanation for his internal struggles as much as a precautionary story for how not to treat it – and where. But the Fontenay dilutes the most striking aspects of the book in favor of a slicker story: Unlike Won’s oppressed storytellers, Roy seems popular with girls, likes football and lives a busy and seemingly happy life with his mother in the city. Won describes himself as an older introvert who wants to learn the country’s roads. For Roy from De Fontenay’s movie, it makes no sense for him to want to spend a year with his dad.
And although it is billed as one, “Sukkwan Island” is basically not a psychological thriller that was won book – which is expressionist, sometimes dream -like and has an Aud soft plot twist that drives second half to a shocking climax that has no relationship with reality. Aesthetically, “Sukkwan Island” is too interested in reality. Far from an allegorical horror story, it is a rather muted family drama, without any of the strict images that get stuck in the head and make the “legend of a suicide” feel genuine.
Arlaud and Norman, although wonderful actors-are shown in their breakout roles in “Anatomy of a case” and “C’mon C’mon”, are symptoms and contributors to the film’s over-aesthetic approach. The script offers Arlaud Little, and he does not seem to give any interior, a rather incredible mistake in a movie about psychological disorder. A Joel Edgeton type, robust and aggressive and empty, would give much more by giving much less. In Norman’s case, it feels more like incorrect. He looks too much like an actor, dressed in spotless clothes and anything but scruffy. He is too comfortable, in a role, in a role that should be anything but.
“Sukkwan Island” has the same scary plot twist as the novel, but the entire Fontenay and the actors’ decisions seem to lead it in a different direction. In the book, Twist is striking and thought provoking. The way “Sukkwan Island” tells it, it feels somewhere between randomly and manipulative, a transparent trick to induce maximum pain.
De Fontenay’s first mistake is to put “Sukkwan Island” in the present. This makes its portrayal of Tom’s Old World Angst feel unpleasant. It never recovers from missing what makes the book good. Do not think about the fact that the wilderness claustrophobia, a central theme in history, is reduced when you have an iPhone.
Like Tim Burton who adapts Mike Teavee in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to love video games – it’s in his name! – The Fontenays aesthetic elections defeat the point “Sukkwan Island.” De Fontenay has undoubtedly chosen a good story to tell. And it is good that more readers can now discover Won’s wonderful book. But “Sukkwan Island” feels most like an opportunity that is missed.
Rating: c
“Sukkwan Island” premiered at 2025 Sundance Film festival. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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