Sunday, June 22, 2008

Of Mice and Men

Author: Qasim Asif
Location: London, UK

"Of Mice and Men"

Directed by Ang Lee
Produced by Gary Sinise
Written By John Steinbeck

Principal Cast:

George Milton – Sean Penn
Lennie Small – Brad Garett
Slim – Jude Law
Curley’s Wife – Jennifer Connely
Curley – John Leguizamo
Candy – Patrick Stewart
Crooks – Jamie Foxx
Carlson – Albert Finney
The Boss - Anthony Hopkins
Whit – Jonathan Rhys Myers

Tagline: "Guy’s like us can be the loneliest guy’s in the world"

Synopsis: Based on John Steinbeck's 1937 classic tale of two traveling companions, George and Lennie, who wander the country during the Depression, dreaming of a better life for themselves. Then, just as heaven is within their grasp, it is inevitably yanked away. The film follows Steinbeck's novel closely, exploring questions of strength, weakness, usefulness, reality and utopia, bringing Steinbeck's California vividly to life. And the importance of Dreams, loneliness and death.

Lennie is a large, strong man with the mind of a child, and George is a smaller man with quick wit who cares for Lennie. Lennie's love of touching soft things results in an accusation of rape by a woman whose dress he felt in the town of Weed. A mob from the town vows to lynch Lennie, which forces George and Lennie to leave their current town and find new work at a ranch near Soledad, California. George and Lennie hope to escape the
repetitive, wandering fate of most ranch workers by saving up enough money to buy a
small farm of their own, and "live offa the fatta the lan'." Lennie is driven to this goal by the prospect of "tending the rabbits". However, this goal is only a dream until Candy, another worker on the farm, offers to contribute his savings for a place on the farm.

While subjected to the loneliness and mediocrity of the life they presently lead, George and Lennie's prospect of their own farm attracts yet another hopeful, Crooks, the "Negro" stable buck. Despite their best efforts, however, the dream begins to collapse, completely falling apart when Lennie accidentally kills the wife of Curley, a worker and son of the ranch boss.

After killing Curley's wife, Lennie escapes to the river where the story had begun, the place where George told him to go should he ever get into trouble (Note the circular ending: it suggests that the workers are trapped in the cycle for ever).

To spare Lennie from Curley's revenge, which would entail much pain on Lennie's part, George quickly kills Lennie with a Luger pistol, stolen from Carlson. He does this by coaxing Lennie with a description of the dream, and shoots him in the back of the head. Slim and George then go for a drink to settle George's nerves.

What the press would say:

Absolute brilliance
A true adaptation for a book
And the importance of a companionship which we should all.
10 out of 10 or 5 out of 5.

Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture
Best Director: And lee
Best Actor in a Leading role: Sean Penn
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Connely
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Brad Garett
Best Screenplay
Best Score
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Costume
Best Art-Direction

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