Martin Eden

Studio: Kino Lorber

Feb 04, 2021 Web Exclusive By Jason Wilson

Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli) is a young man of very humble means as he works on ships and odd jobs in and around Naples. He’s uneducated and not very literate, and befriends a wealthy family after he saves the teenage son from a beating at the hands of a security guard. The matriarch immediately casts a gaze of either distrust or disgust or both because of his lower strata and it’s heightened as Martin forms an attachment to her daughter, Elena (Jessica Cressy).

Upon meeting Elena and discovering her adoration of poetry and literature, Martin begins to pursue a life as a writer. He does this either as a means of endearing himself to Elena or out of a sincere desire to broaden his horizons, and possibly a bit of both. Ultimately, he becomes obsessed even though he continues to be marginalized and condescended to by those who’ve deemed him their lesser. He never finished primary school, and is told that he has no shot at pursuing a higher education or a career as a writer unless he returns to square one.

The heart of the movie is found in how it approaches this kind of class struggle. Martin won’t go back to primary school in his 20s. It would be both a huge financial burden to leave the workforce and a huge embarrassment to re-enroll when that level of education is designed explicitly for children. That, however, is presented as his only true option – one that Elena herself pushes upon him as a condition for their romance.

Nevertheless, he persists at his goals and lofty ambitions of making it as a writer without any formal training. He’s fully self-taught through voracious reading – Baudelaire serves as his first muse – and he quickly learns that even if Elena truly loves him, her family and peers only see him as a pauper, no matter how nice a suit he puts on.

This is pretty standard – and effective – storytelling. It’s familiar but also shot evocatively with sequences displayed like silent cinema with various filters to distinguish Martin’s inner thoughts and his writing from reality.

Despite the inventive look and the generally rousing themes of class struggle and the ideas of capitalism vs. socialism vs. individualism, the end result remains something that feels somewhat flat. As Martin does find success as a writer – whether legitimately or through nefarious means – the film loses sight of his identity. This feels purposeful, as he himself seems to no longer understand his purpose or his ambitions. He’s an international celebrity and he’s absolutely miserable. He’s also more of a symbol than an actual character in the final 30 minutes. It’s almost like a transition is missing from one part of his life to another and it’s a jarring delineation point that doesn’t quite work, at least not on first watch.

Still, there are joys to be had. It was an inspired decision to avoid setting the story in any specific time. While it may seem pre-WWII at times, there are also television sets and cars from different eras. This creates a thrilling sense of being kept off-balance where anything may happen. Director Pietro Marcello also incorporates stock footage to further this aspect of imbalance that feels exciting rather than gimmicky or anachronistic.

If anything, Martin Eden needed to fully embrace its epic scope and expand its runtime to provide greater depth of field, though perhaps Martin’s lack of understanding surrounding his own identity and purpose – particularly after finding fame – is the underlying point of the entire story. He sets his grand ambitions based on winning love and fortune instead of genuinely questing for knowledge and education. But also, what choice did he have in the beginning? Sometimes, people are dealt a bum hand and are forced to behave in ugly ways to get what they want even if the satisfaction is nullified in the long run.

Director Piero Marcello and co-screenwriter Maurizio Braucci have imbued their adaptation of Jack London’s novel with enough curiosity and flair that these themes and the purposes behind them are more unlocked upon revisiting the material, but at first glance there’s something that feels oddly unfinished. The frustration, however, suggests that the movie isn’t missing something but that I, the critic and viewer, simply missed something that pulls it all together.

(www.kinolorber.com/product/martin-eden-blu-ray)

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