Ithaca

source: Ithaca

If Erik Jendresen, who wrote the screenplay and Meg Ryan, who directed and portrayed Mrs. Macauley, sees this story as darkly as they have, I can but feel sorry for both. Outside of the name of the town as well as the names of the characters, this film bears no resemblance to the well rounded and splendid version of "The Human Comedy" released in 1943. In fact, characters of some import are missing in this film! If anything, I consider it the darkest side of that story which relates more to the mindset and attitudes of today rather than those of 1942-43. The threads that bound the original story together are absent. There are no threads that bind in this film...not in the story or the characters. Everything seems far too superficially developed, insights discarded, small town togetherness, familial feelings and thoughts are simply not present. Outside of Sam Shepard, who portrayed Willie Grogan, the casting is dead wrong and for the studio to hawk this as a Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks film is no less than cheeky. In my opinion, they sought to make a buck using their names. I cannot recommend this film to anyone for any reason. For me, it has no saving grace. That Meg Ryan undertook its direction and "bought" the screenplay is sheer folly. I truly do not believe that Ms. Ryan or Erik Jendresen understood the people, characters or period in which this film takes place. Being familiar with the music of the era, I did not hear one piece that touched on it.

Some movies are not about plot, but are more about drama. That is this one. It's about people who are effected by the war. It's not pleasant, and it is heart string stuff. It is a nice little drama. Spirits of those leaving, and delivering the bad news to their loved ones, that is what it's all about. Homer is continuously delivering bad news to others, and loses his own brother. His mother loses her husband. There is not good news. FDR's speech about a long war is in the early opening, and this war was a long war, though America had only just gotten involved in 1942. It is a story about going on, yet it has painful moments that are iconic. Set in Ithaca, California it was actually filmed in Virginia. Based on a novel, this film digs into emotions and there is some excellent filmography including a great image of Homer, delieving bad news to a woman about her husband death. As she reads the telegram, Homer's image in the mirror, and her image of grief is an iconic image. Drama is this films hallmark, and for those who like drama, this one is not the same as the Summer of 42 film made years ago. This one is not about a sexual affair, this one addresses losses in a very personal way. When Will Grogan, elder telegrapher dies, it actually foreshadows in real life this actors death. He actually did die working, just like Grogans character. He would work on 4 more films that last year of his life. Silence is golden in drama, and it is used well here.

It is a film deserving to be loved. This is the main certitude about it. It deserve be loved for the beautiful portrait of mister Grogan proposed by Sam Shepart. For lovely young Spencer Howell. For the hard ( and good ) work of Alex Neustaedter. And, obvious, for Meg Ryan . Yes, it is not the most convincing movie about war. No doubts, it is a sketch only. The mother, performed by Meg Ryan remains a silhouette, unfortunately. But, honest to be, it represents more, more than a good try. It is a film to remind small, fundamental things defining us. From the connections between siblings to the maturity of a 14 years old age boy. From friendship to the telegrams, death, war and change of everything just in a minute. Its sins - many, maybe. Its basic virtue - an admirable delicacy for I am profound grateful to Meg Ryan.

Meg Ryan did an awesome job directing this movie. I was pleasantly surprised by the characters, the cinematography, lighting and superb story line. So many movies are predictable with the same dramas, with the same cliches while this one had a fresh approach. The feeling of the small town with divisions, logistics of war, the telegraph business of the time, the youth becoming an adult in ways so different than most films was captured with beautiful motion. The actors had real approach, timing and freshness. All in all, a wonderful movie.

After World War II, William Saroyan gambled away all his money but he preferred to resort to hack work rather than sell movie rights to any of his novels. Not after his disappointment with the original movie of The Human Comedy. Part of it was vanity. He'd wanted to direct the movie, and MGM wouldn't let him. But it's also true that Hollywood has its own point of view and it doesn't always match Saroyan's. In Ithaca, which is a remake of the Human Comedy (now that Saroyan is dead), the main story and characters are preserved, but to me it doesn't look like Saroyan. In the book's classic illustrations by Don Freeman, Mrs. Macauley is older-looking and certainly not an attractive but obvious plastic-surgery veteran like Meg Ryan. Grogan is older-looking too. The character brought most successfully to the screen is Ulysses, although he shouldn't be losing his baby teeth if, as the dialog says, he's four. He's remarkable. The visuals are, to my taste, too expressionistic. The telegraph office is huge, the roads are wide, and things are too big in general except where Marcus the faraway soldier is involved. All the scenes with Marcus are crowded. That does emphasize the contrast between Ithaca and where Marcus is, but Marcus is not remote enough. Because there are continual voice-overs from his letters, I think the audience doesn't appreciate his absence as a factor. Even the dead father isn't completely absent, and although he adds a sorrowful note, this unkillable family togetherness diminishes the philosophical message that our human condition is one of loneliness and we must actively reach out. On the one hand, I expected a dustier, less prosperous-looking Ithaca. On the other hand, I was surprised that the choice of music verged on primitivity. More Appalachian than Californian. I think that a more realistic movie might have worked better, because of the need to carry some dialogue that can, if not handled right, sound unrealistically divorced from what everyday people really say. People declaiming unrealistic-sounding dialogue amidst unrealistic-looking scenery may be fine for the stage but it's difficult to sell on the screen. Still, the movie tries to be respectful of the original. It even includes some salutes to matters that only readers of the book will fully appreciate-- such a mention of unripe apples, referencing a whole episode involving unripe apricots in the book. I hope that since Saroyan is no longer alive to object, Hollywood will continue to mine his canon.

We saw this at home on DVD from our public library. It has a rather low IMDb average rating and, judging from some of the comments, it seems many just didn't get the gist of the story. It is based on a 1943 novel "The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan, and is considered somewhat autobiographical, a boy growing up fatherless. The characters and some references are aligned with Homer's 'Odyssey'. Set in 1942, it is at its core a coming-of-age story of the 14-yr- old boy whose father has died and older brother is fighting overseas in WW2. The two big names are Meg Ryan, who directs, and Tom Hanks, who is an executive producer. They are the mom and dad here but their roles are so small they could have been played by any actors. Meg Ryan's son, Jack Quaid, plays the brother off to war. The central character is Alex Neustaedter as Homer Macauley. He is 14, still idealistic about life, and gets a job as a messenger for the town telegram business, using a bicycle to pick up and deliver. It is through this job he begins to learn about real life. The old telegraph operator who drinks too much and tells Homer to splash cold water on his face if he finds him sleeping at the desk. Or the delivery to the house of prostitution. Or the telegrams to the townspeople from the War Department, announcing the death of a son. And a number of other things. Regarding action there isn't a lot that happens, but it is all happening to Homer, waking him up to the real world, molding his journey into young adulthood. Good movie. Actually filmed in Virginia.

What a gushy mess... This whole film felt for me like someone,grabbed all the elements of a movie,thrown them into a blender..and pop this was the result... It became first hard to follow the line of story,where is the past..what is the present..or future? Characters are been introduced at random.. Get some good plot line,for couple of minutes.. Then something else popes in.. The whole film making is very good.Like a triple A movie. The actors are good,but it doesn't help this blundering mess. The lights ,the costumes,it all comes together,the structure is solid but it feels like no one is at home. This started to get really frustrating as the movie progressed.. Other problems:Tom Hanks shown here as a lead actor.He only say 2 words the whole film...what the hell? maybe he was used as a gimmick to pull viewers to watch this. Meg Ryan acting was good,problem is her face suffered so many surgeries,it looks like a freaking death mask,and didn't help with the character of a gentle loving mom...She could do some scary ghost or some horror film,but this totally didn't work for me(I kept getting deja vu from sleepless in Seattle,where she was pretty and her beauty was like pure and naive,slaughtered by all these surgeries)

Typical, popular movies are a combination of profanity and some degree of nudity, along with some action and special effects. This is not one of those. This is not even rated PG-13. You realize at that point that the story is everything. Since I wasn't alive during World War II, I cannot speak to the conditions, but being a little kid in the 1960s, I suspect that life had only changed a little. As the movie begins, there is a recording of Pres. FDR and it is somewhat difficult for me to hear, as I am Japanese. I have often avoided WWII-related movies. However, this movie is about dealing with life and death, while growing up. The main character is hopeful, but naive. Homer realizes that his work seemed simple but in the deep of things, dealing with real life is not so sweet. $15 per week seems really high pay, maybe three times what I expected. There isn't a lot of chemistry between the actors but it is enough to keep the story going. Claiming Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks sells the film but they have minimal roles. Alex Neustaedter has big shoes to fill and does fine in general. I felt a great deal when Homer delivered the death notices to the families. He certainly felt a great deal. It's somewhat obvious that the film is not at the high end of the scale. There are mistakes. However, how do you get the high end right now without profanity and at least some nudity? If you place yourself into the film's era, it can work because life was slower then.

Based on the William Saroyan novel "The Human Comedy," "Ithaca" attempts to put a human face on the tragedy of war. The main character is named Homer, which is derived from the bard who sang the praises of the war heroes who fell at Troy. In this twentieth-century adaptation, Homer is a telegram delivery boy who shows up on the doorsteps of the mothers to inform them of their sons' deaths in World War II. The setting is Ithaca, New York, which bears no resemblance to the ancient Greece citadel that was home to Ulysses (Odysseus). The filmmakers' concept has been to create a Norman Rockwell-like atmosphere for the small town. The best performance in the film is that of Alex Neustaedter, who races around town to deliver the tragic news of the war dead. Unfortunately, the film never fleshed out the characters, so that the audience may empathize them. The main problem was the over-emphasis on the narrator's voice at the expense of the words of the characters themselves. While the scenery and location filming (in Virginia, not New York) was beautiful, "Ithaca" never confronted the contradictions of World War II as "the good war," yet one that left a vacuum in lives that could never be filled.