Innocents and Others

Innocents and Others is an American novel by Dana Spiotta. The novel was first published by Scribner in 2016. It follows the friendship of two American filmmakers, Meadow Mori and Carrie Wexler, who grow up together and remain friends as their careers rise.

Plot

In the 1980s teenage Meadow Mori writes an experimental essay during which she watches City Lights twenty times in a row based on a quote from her favourite filmmaker who claimed everything he learned about film he learned from watching City Lights 20 times. After her project is done she sends a copy to the filmmaker who invites her to lunch. The two begin an affair and Meadow defers university to live with him. He warns Meadow that he is ill and urges her to use his fame and the scandal of their relationship to acquire fame and fortune. However, when he dies Meadow only takes a few tokens and prefers to find her own path to success, never publishing the love letters he wrote her. The story is part of an online essay Meadow wrote and comments reveal that the man in question is thought to be Orson Welles.

Meadow eventually heads to Gloversville where she makes experimental films. Her first documentary feature is an interview she does with her younger lover whom she records as he is increasingly drunk based on Portrait of Jason. The film gains enough acclaim that Meadow is able to make a second film, Kent State: Recovered about student protests over the Vietnam war. Meadow is nominated for an Oscar for her film.

Carrie on the other hand makes a well received student short and is able to use that to get enough funding to make her first feature film which Meadow personally finds conventional and uninteresting.

Searching about for a new subject Meadow learns of "Nicole" a woman who seduced powerful Hollywood men a few years earlier by cold calling them and talking to them over the phone. Meadow manages to track down "Nicole" who is actually a woman nicknamed Jelly who is partially sighted, somewhat overweight and was middle aged at the time she made these calls, inspired by her then boyfriend who was involved in phone phreaking. "Nicole" is reluctant to be interviewed for Meadow's film on her until she learns that Jack Cusano, a composer whom she fell in love with, has agreed to be interviewed.

Carrie eventually watches the film where Jack and "Nicole" finally meet and Jack is disgusted with her. Later Jelly calls Meadow to accuse her of using her pain for her own selfish purposes. Though Meadow apologizes to Jelly she feels haunted by her words. Meadow searches for her next subject and decides to make a documentary on Sarah Mills, a woman in prison for arson who is accused of murdering her husband and child. Though Sarah says the fire was an accident she admits that she had the opportunity to save her daughter and deliberately chose not to do so. Meadow destroys the footage. Later on Meadow is also involved in a car accident and these incidents cause her to take stock of her life and reflect on the cruel person she has become. She abandons filmmaking and decides to dissolve most of her trust fund, living a simple paired down life. She eventually takes up teaching.

Jack Cusano discovers that he is dying and, tired of the people in his life who only want to talk about his impending death, reconnects with Jelly. He never tells her he is dying.

Things continue to go well with Carrie who becomes a popular director of commercial films and who always credits Meadow with her success. She also suggests that Meadow's essay on her love-affair with "Orson Welles" was complete fiction. On boxing day, after being stood up by her son, Carrie decides to reunite with Meadow and they watch Daisies together in the theatre.

Characters

  • Meadow Mori, an L.A. born wealthy filmmaker who is interested in documentaries and experimental films
  • Carrie Wexler, an L.A. born woman who is haunted by her childhood plumpness. Carrie grows up middle class in an upper-class neighbourhood and goes on to direct successful comedies.

Reception

The novel was well received. The New York Times praised it as "a combo-deal of a novel that mixes the silliness of a popcorn romp with the intellectual seriousness of a one-camera talking-head commentary."[1] The Irish Times called it "an affectionate homage to the cinematic form itself."[2] The Guardian enjoyed how Spiotta's writing "resists easy depiction at every turn."[3]

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Joshua. "'Innocents and Others,' by Dana Spiotta". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Barekat, Houman. "Innocents and Others review: silver screen savers". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Gunn, Kirsty. "Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta review – an adventure in film". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.