The Man from Elysian Fields

Rating:
Summary: Very Poorly Written
Review: It is ironic that this movie should pertain to the subject of writing, as it is very poorly written.
A MICROCOSM of this can be seen at the end, where the author reads his supposedly "breakthrough" novel: anybody over an amateur level readily recognizes what he is reading as extremely poor, extremely amateurish writing. It is also interesting that John Grisham is referred to once in the movie as a paragon of good writing--as though "fast food" writing ever qualified as very good intellectual reading meat.
The stupidity of the protagonist in not procuring a contract for his services strains credulity.
The likelihood that a well-known author would acquiesce to co-author his last book strains credulity.
The very stilted dialogue of this movie strains credulity.
Mick Jagger did a great job acting, but it's not enough to save this stinker.
The guy who wrote this movie neither understands good writing nor was capable of it.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: It may not be gist for profound reflection but there is a lot of enjoyment to be had in this film.

The pleasure of the characters of Mr and Misses Alcot and Mr. Fox and the general mood setting are what make this film. Not only Byron, but this viewer as well, were seduced by the company of Mr. and Misses Alcott. These would be really interesting people to hang around and get to know in real life and of course our third wheel Byron gradually does. And they are interesting to watch, which makes it a great vicarious pleasure. It makes escorting briefly seem like a great job, which is purely fictional of course, but oh what a fantasy! Mick Jagger as Fox is great as well. Mr. Alcott is clearly partly modeled on Hemmingway.

As for the charges of this film being unrealistic, well no it's not totally realistic. How many people in a tough spot financially turn to escorting after all? And certainly not as quickly as Byron does. I don't know that it needs to be entirely realistic though. It's almost a mood piece. The fact that Byron could be in a tough spot financially is thoroughly believable.

The effect this film is going for is one of being both dark and beautiful (except where it gets mushy at the end). It's about people like Byron making decisions out of, no despair isn't even the word, out of a blinding depression really. And people like Mr and Misses Alcot (yes she is evil but so what?) getting by in whatever way they can even if their every hour is darkened by the constant presence and awareness of death. It may have a mushy happy ending (I almost cried) but it's really a great deal darker than your average film with a mushy happy ending.

Rating:
Summary: The Man From Elysian Fields
Review: My husband and I enjoyed this movie very much. Even though the story line was a bit of a downer at times, it was still very entertaining and kept our interest throughout the entire movie. Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger did an excellent job in conveying the desperation they each felt during critical moments in their lives. James Corburn and the actress who played his wife were good in their roles, as well.

Rating:
Summary: WRITERS BLOCK
Review: Novelist with one major book under his belt has trouble selling his next. The plot then gets bizarre in a minimal high drama sort of way as he embarks on a hunt to find any means of income to support his family. Upon hearing a job prospect is a male escort the naive and gullible writer played by Andy Garcia says something to the effect of, "You mean like standing on a street corner in a big white cowboy hat?" If only. No, he is to embark on a literary metaphysical journey caused by the frustration and insecurity of writing amd make love to a beautiful woman under the watchful eye of the image of Ernest Hemingway whose writing credits he will share. In the shadows wait a sleazy barfly man from Elysian Fields looking like a scrawny weathered Hugh Hefner after sand is kicked in his face. Somebody somewhere ought to get back on their anti-psychotics.

Rating:
Summary: Are you too literal for this movie?
Review: SOOOO many reviews of this flick rant about how "unrealistic" or "improbable" it is. The movie is clearly part fantasy and allegory, with the director and editor playing with reality to advance their theses---which they do admirably. One wonders about what else in their lives such critics are unimaginative. But I digress...casting and performances are excellent. A wondrous Mick Jagger, who someone else here described well as "...a satanic purring Siamese cat, is perfectly cast as the owner of a high-end male escort service. "Decadent" is the most perfect description of his character and persona. The rest of the cast is suitably lovely, the women all "troppo mangiabile" and James Coburn and Andy Garcia both virile in their own ways, appropriate to the plot. Nicely shot, great music, very atmospheric. And, the ultimate lesson of the story is one which I have learned, personally, to both my regret and happiness: unconditional love from a special someone is a gift that you squander at your life-long peril. See this movie, savor it, and---above all---learn from it.

Rating:
Summary: The needs we have.....
Review: THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS is ostensibly a story about male escort services, the type of escorts needed by older ladies who require bright, worldly, attractive men. But if you're expecting an expose on the life of male escorts pass this one by. This film is a well made tale about what men and women will do to find money/success/love - all wrapped into a tidy little package about a writer on the skids who needs to support his beloved family and just happens to meet a resource in an escort service. An incidental plus is that the writer is assigned to a women who is married to a dying famous writer, a man who is completely informed about his wife's needs and turns those needs into a benefit for him (finishing his last novel). In the hands of less than superb actors this could become a TV novella, but given the cast of Andy Garcia (wirter), Julianna Margulies (his wife), Mick Jagger ( the 'pimp'), Anjelica Huston (jagger's client),and Olivia Williams (the 'other woman') and James Coburn (the dying writer) the whole film works well. There is a warm feeling at the end that makes us appreciate the value of real love. A good diversion of a movie.

Rating:
Summary: All it aspires to be
Review: This film was on thin ice as soon as I came onto the plot, which seemed a bit overdone(Good Person falls into prostitution variations). As the film progressed though, I came to appreciate the both the variations on the theme and the sardonic humor the cast was so adept at evoking. The look on Mick Jagger's face was worth the price of admission - priceless!
There is no glorification here, no 'beautiful people' cast to pander to some sexy image. Though it's not quite a brutal reality. The setting is a high class escort service, naturally cleaning up the presentation, but there is still a bit of grunge in the emotions and the film doesn't try to pretty up the situation too much.
Granted, the ending was bit gentle, but films this good are too hard to come by to quibble over that.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious in its seriousness
Review: This independent film starring Andy Garcia looked promising and it is enjoyable to sit through, but the movie is an elephant balanced on one leg. Somehow Garcia is this failed L.A. novelist that use to work in the Ad game. Now he's married with baby and no income is coming his way. His current novel is unpublishable. the wife's father is rich, but hates him. He told his former boss in the Ad agency off, and can't get that job back. So what is a hero to do? Go to work as a male escort for pimp, Mick Jagger. Now the film is full of good actors and pleasant faces. That babe Olivia Williams of RUSHMORE fame shows up as the lady who wants Garcia as an escort, and her dying husband is played by the great James Colburn.

The whole thing is played 100% serious, but probably worked better as that Rob Schneider gigolo film comedy I never saw. Why? Because it's ridiculous to think that Garcia can't get another ad job in a city as big as Los Angeles, even if he did anger the old boss. Garcia is so pained by having to be a prostitute, I am reminded of the seriousness that Costner tried to portray in the campy POSTMAN.

Now if that wasn't bad enough, James Colburn isn't just the husband of Garcia's client, but a famous writer of the day. And it seems that Colburn can't finish his new novel. It further seems that the unpublishable Garcia is asked to collaborate because it's known that he is a writer of some sort.

This may have sounded good in the story phase, and I will admit that Garcia is as good as ever, but you just can't take this movie all that seriously. But it was still fun.

Rating:
Summary: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...
Review: This is a finely cast film with some terrific performances by the late James Coburn, Angelica Huston, and Mick Jagger. Not even they, however, can save this film from going belly up. The plot is improbable, and the main character, played by Andy Garcia, is unbelievable.

The plot is simple. Good-looking, former ad agency hotshot turned writer, appropriately named Byron (Andy Garcia), has written and published his first book that, despite warm reviews, has ended up as a remainder. His second book has been rejected by his publisher. His supportive, stay at home wife, Dena (Juliana Margulies), and young child need him to bring home the bacon, so what is an aspiring young writer to do? Why he turns to a male escort service that just happens to have an office in the same building in which Byron has an office that he uses for his writing. Right away you know that the film is in trouble, as one would think that a financially strapped writer would give up the luxury of an office rental.

This escort service is deliciously run by Luthor Fox, which Faustian role is played with silken, Machiavellian overtones by Mick Jagger due to a bit of inspired casting. Luthor himself still dabbles in the field by servicing Jennifer, one of his original clients, played with sophisticated finesse by Angelica Huston. Byron is initially reluctant to do this sort of work, because he does love his wife, and because he seems to have some moral scruples.

Fortuitously for him, Byron's first assignment is to escort a coldly beautiful, young woman named Andrea, played with icy hauteur by the lovely Olivia Williams. Andrea just happens to be married to aging Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Tobias Alcott (James Coburn). Before Byron knows it, his moral scruples are blowing in the wind. It turns out that this assignment has him servicing both the Alcotts in ways he could never have imagined. Of course, his pact with the Alcotts has its short lived financial rewards, but its long term impact on his marriage, his writing career, and his psyche is another matter.

There are some juicy and memorable moments in the film. Tobias Alcott has a knack for entering his wife's room to chat, at just precisely the wrong moment. When Luthor decides to take his business arrangement with Jennifer to a new level, he gets an ego shattering surprise that has some cinematic interest. There are also some less than memorable moments in the film. The scene at the end, when Byron realizes just where his pact with the Alcotts has led him, causing him to indulge in an act of purely gratuitous vandalism, is a bit of ham handed, laughable overkill.

The plot holes also do not help this film. Byron's paying for an office in which to write, when he does not have two sticks to rub together, is ridiculous. Byron's seeming disinclination to get a "respectable" job does not really justify his resorting to getting a job with the escort service. His verbal pact with the crusty Tobias, regarding a collaborative writing effort, does not seem to be a sound basis for Byron getting a new house in a more upscale neighborhood and doing scads of shopping with Dena. Moreover, Byron's seeming naivete does not jive with his being a former ad agency hotshot. In short, Byron comes across as a bit of a dolt and, ultimately, unsympathetic. The character of Dena does not fare much better, as Ms. Margulies is too one dimensional as the sweetly trusting wife.

This film is moderately enjoyable, at best, and only so due to the stellar performances of Mick Jagger, James Coburn, and Angelica Huston. Andy Garcia and Juliana Margulies are eminently forgettable in their respective roles, while Olivia Williams manages to hold her own in an undeveloped role. The allegorical pretensions of the film are merely just that, as the film careens midway and degenerates into pure hogwash.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite movies now
Review: This is a finely cast film with some terrific performances by the late James Coburn, Angelica Huston, and Mick Jagger. This is a stellar film. The plot is interesting and challenging, and the main character, played by Andy Garcia, is believable and really gives you a good look at the what if's given this kind of situation and really makes you ask what would you do.

The plot is simple. Good-looking, former ad agency hotshot turned writer, appropriately named Byron (Andy Garcia), has written and published his first book that, despite warm reviews, has ended up as a remainder. His second book has been rejected by his publisher. His supportive, stay at home wife, Dena (Juliana Margulies), and young child need him to bring home the bacon, so what is an aspiring young writer to do? He turns to a male escort service that has an office in the same building in which Byron has an office that he uses for his writing. Right away the film is engaging.

This escort service is deliciously run by Luthor Fox, which Faustian role is played with silken, Machiavellian overtones by Mick Jagger due to a bit of inspired casting. Luthor himself still dabbles in the field by servicing Jennifer, one of his original clients, played with sophisticated finesse by Angelica Huston. Byron is initially reluctant to do this sort of work, because he does love his wife, and because he seems to have some moral scruples.

Fortuitously for him, Byron's first assignment is to escort a coldly beautiful, young woman named Andrea, played with icy hauteur by the lovely Olivia Williams. Andrea just happens to be married to aging Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Tobias Alcott (James Coburn). Before Byron knows it, his moral scruples are blowing in the wind. It turns out that this assignment has him servicing both the Alcotts in ways he could never have imagined. Of course, his pact with the Alcotts has its short lived financial rewards, but its long term impact on his marriage, his writing career, and his psyche is another matter.

There are some juicy and memorable moments in the film. Tobias Alcott has a knack for entering his wife's room to chat, at just precisely the wrong moment. When Luthor decides to take his business arrangement with Jennifer to a new level, he gets an ego shattering surprise that has some cinematic interest. The scene at the end, when Byron realizes just where his pact with the Alcotts has led him, causing him to indulge in an act of vandalism is just what you think you would do if you were in his shoes.

Byron gets an advance on the book he is writing with famous author and gets a new house. Byron's disinclination to get a "respectable" job feeds the motivation to getting a job with the escort service as a last resort. His verbal pact with the crusty Tobias, regarding a collaborative writing effort leads you to believe he's gotten an advance from him and a sound basis for Byron getting a new house in a more upscale neighborhood and doing scads of shopping with Dena. Byron comes across as a guy down on his luck but very compassionate and therefore sympathetic. The character of Dena is very realistic, as Ms. Margulies is the sweetly trusting and supporting wife as some women can be because they want to believe the best about their husbands.

This film was very enjoyable, and personal to me. There was stellar performances from Mick Jagger, James Coburn, and Angelica Huston. Andy Garcia and Juliana Margulies are amazing in their roles, while Olivia Williams manages to hold her own in a challenged role. The movie builds the characters strongly and you are right there with them when they have to make their choices sitting on the edge of your seat, talking to the TV and crying along with the consequences and having so much hope for the characters. Not too often does a movie come along where I am actually caring for the roles. I highly recommend this film.