Salinger (2013)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This documentary is absolute garbage. Salinger wrote against a fake world but this documentary focus on all the fake garbage that he hated. I'm not saying Salinger was the greatest philosopher of all time but he deserves some respect for the ideas that he raises in Catcher. This documentary seems to focus more on a phony world and has little respect for Holdens attempt at combating a fake world. There is really nothing good to say about this garbage other than it shows the meaning of phony ie not seeking truth. Almost reminds me of a horrible Carlsen documentary I saw. It is obvious people who make garbage like that has no real search for truth, reality, existence or deep questions in life. Absolute garbage of a movie and an attack on the intellect of Salinger.

". . . 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 RyeNo 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.

I loved this movie and found it thrilling. Only a few days ago did I begin to read Salinger's short stories again as well as RAISE HIGH THE ROOFBEAMS, CARPENTERS. Of course everyone has read THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and I agree it remains a right of passage.I came to this movie with high hopes and that always scares me, because I set myself up for a downfall. This came through for me.It is an intense psychological portrait. The 299 days he spent at continuous war, from D-Day to the concentration camps, most certainly carved out his soul to his dying day. And how could it not? As someone who has always been interested in platonic love, I was very moved by his friendship(s) with young women that did not include sex.This movie thoroughly investigates the ego, drive, and mystery of this artist. The portrait is not always flattering and sometimes it is downright pitiful, but it seems genuine to me.I would recommend it to not only fans but also any writer or artist who knows something about the thrill of achievement and the horror of fame.I look forward to the publication of the posthumous work with relish.

If you really want to hear about it, SADLY, Salinger doc was awful. Terribly executed and most of all PHONY. It's everything Salinger himself hated. Bombastic, sensationalistic, voyeuristic, and just plan dull. To make up for it the genius of a director adds the worst over-scored music just so you know what to feel during each moment. AND to make matters worst, there are cheesy reenactments of a shadowy guy playing Salinger at a typewriter smoking a cig through out. As a JD fan I felt shitty watching it. There was one real moment in the whole film(WW2 vet telling a story). But thats all. It'll kill ya, whether you adore Salinger or love documentaries, it'll tear you to pieces for two and a half hours. Ugh! The horrible reviews were dead on. The book is a bit better, I must say, but doesn't make me want to finish it. I'll just wait until Salinger's new stories come out. Fingers crossed.