Jacek Szafranowicz (IfeellikeGregorSamsa)

I must say, even though it's not a fascination, I'm an admirer of Rebecca Miller's work. She's a bold filmmaker who doesn't fear to take on difficult themes, always demanding viewer's full attention, in exchange respecting one's intelligence. "The Private Live of Pippa Lee" may be her finest work to date - she gathered a wonderful cast, wrote a thought-provoking story, giving us a mature, contemplative piece of cinema, filled with laughter, sadness and pain, reflecting the life, as we experience it.

Robin Wright Penn deserves much, much more praise than she's usually given, being somewhat in the shadow of her famous husband. Beautifully written character Pippa Lee must've been a dream come true for a grown up actress and Penn made the best of it!

It certainly had to be difficult to adapt "The Dying Animal" onto the screen. First-rate American writer Philip Roth usually writes from first-person perspective, in a manner of inner monologue and he doesn't leave much air while he does that. His writing is rich with description of emotion and thought and, as we know, these are the two main things one can't show on screen since they have to come out from the events and interaction between the characters. Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer took his chances few years ago with "The Human Stain" and failed miserably, the result being a messy, unconvincing drama (with both Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman miscasted). Now, adapting "The Dying Animal" by the title "Elegy", he seem to recognized some of his past mistakes, but his script is still far from perfection, which, when dealing with Roth's work, seems to be an obligation.

"The Dying Animal" is a powerful 120 page novella. It's as frightening and disgusting as it is fascinating, truthful and, ultimately, sad. Really, a hard to put down one. The level of Roth's human understanding is remarkable. With full complexity he draws a inner life of an 62-year David Kepesh (in the film, mostly convincing sir Ben Kingsley) who, upon starting an affair with 24 year old student Consuela Castillo (fairly good Penelope Cruz) starts to contemplate issues such as aging, death, the power of the female beauty, the fear of being left alone, sexual desire and loneliness. It's understandable that with that amount of themes, one have to make choices. The picture then focuses much on fear of being left alone and aging. The matter of sex isn't one bit as nasty and nearly as graphic, in fact is mostly stiffy, which makes the character of Kepesh lack certain level of emotional desperation, I believe, crucial, in Roth's book.

There's a brilliant thread in the book-- secondary yet important for deeper understading of Kepesh, about relation with his son, Kenny, in the film played by Peter Sarsgaard. Sarsgaard, a fine actor, does what he can as an angry, frustrated son to make a relation with his father look convincing, but the structure of the script won't allow him since he shows up out of nowhere in the middle of the picture and whole meeting, full of resentment and anger lacks nessessary energy, turning out to be a wasted oppurtunity.

Isabel Coixet impressed me with her "The Secret Life of Words" and she certainly was as a good choice to direct the story since she's good at building the whole picture upon two characters. She effectively plays with shadows, drawing the intimate, almost dark atmosphere of a relationship, uses wide, static shots and edit them minimalisticly, focusing our full attention on the interaction of the two.

"Elegy" may be one of those films that makes you turn your attention to the book, but there are great moments here. Dennis Hopper is wonderful as Kepesh's friend and every scene with him is fantastic. Same goes for every minute of Patricia Clarkson's time on screen. It's an elegant, intelligent drama and, thankfully, it doesn't take itself too seriously.

But I'd strongly recommend you to read the book first.