Devoted to his intellectual freedom, Marcus declines to join a Jewish fraternity and feverishly pursues his studies. However, he soon becomes enamored with the bright and beautiful Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon) whom he spies in the college library. Eventually, Marcus builds up the courage to ask her out. Their date deeply impacts them both in different ways. The subsequent fallout, along with Marcus’ inability to fit in with the social norms and refusal to follow Winesburg’s rigid requirements sets in motion a series of events that we know from early on, will result in his death.
This marks the directing debut of long time independent film producer and executive, James Schamus who also wrote the screenplay. He has a very strong grasp of the material and has delivered a film with strong production values. Most of the action moves slowly, with just two actors in a scene and the emphasis on deep, impassioned conversations. Shot as a series of long takes with a few medium shots, Schamus wants the audience to get to know these characters.
Each of the actors deliver superb performances. Logan Lerman maintains his character’s likability, despite being purposely insufferable much of the time. As Olivia, Sarah Gadon is wonderful, playing a young woman who knows her own mind, unfortunately, her mind sometimes takes her to some dark places. The always excellent Tracy Letts displays great control as the dean, a man of his time, he represents everything that was awful about his time.
Indignation is elegant, incisive and occasionally infuriating. Though Philip Roth fans may feel it doesn’t capture the nuances of the novel, fine performances by everyone involved make it worth seeing.
Presented in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, director James Schamus and cinematographer Blauvelt bring a real 1950’s look to this 1080p transfer. There’s a real deep textured look to things, with a definite emphasis on beige’s, brown’s and yellows. Detail is very good, with intentional softness on certain scenes to prevent things from looking overly digital. Blacks are solid and contrast is constant. There are no anomalies to note.
Indignation’s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers a subtle, but immersive experience when necessary. The string heavy score by Jay Wadley is nicely spread throughout the surrounds. Dialogue is clear and concise. This track had no problems to report.
English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles are included.
The following extras are available:
- Timeless: Connecting the Past to the Present (HD,6:01) Standard EPK with interviews and scenes from the film.
- Perceptions: Bringing Philip Roth to the Screen (HD, 7:16) Writer/director James Schamus discusses the various issues he faced and the process he went through to bring Indignation to the screen.
- Digital Copy
- UV Digital Copy
