This is an energetic and witty tale of young Igby, a misfit
in a wealthy New York City
family. It’s an artsy gem with a
suitably artsy cast that stars Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Ryan Phillipe, Jeff
Goldblum, Amanda Peet, and Susan Sarandon. Scarred by the mental deterioration
of his father and bullied by a snobby mother and brother, Igby is fragile,
rebellious, and a failure at conventional measure of success, especially
school. Military school provides the
title of the movie, as Igby is beaten up by classmates for being late, they
shout “Igby goes down!” Thus the mood of
the movie is pointedly made, a mixture of cruelty, injustice, jadedness, and
fragility. Because Igby finds only depression and alienation in his given world
of Hamptons cocktail parties,
social-know how, wealth, and intellectualism, he awkwardly searches for new
people and places to find happiness. The experiences, sleeping with fashionable
mistresses, cavorting with drag-queen muses, are conveniently more exciting
than what it actually realistic. At times Igby’s ease with existing in both
upper-crust ties and newfound voyeuristic lifestyle evokes too obviously that
he is a hip black-sheep, rather than as someone we really want to empathize
with as a lost soul. His adventures range from genuinely funny to inappropriate
to tragic, and instead of becoming redefined, he begins to accept life’s
complexities. The film is driven by
quirky incidents and rapid-fire dialogue (with a heavy dose of Igby’s own
sarcasm). The views of New
York City are distinct and highly enjoyable, from sadistic
field hockey jocks combating in Central Park to the
sullen backdrop of garish St. Mark’s Street, the shots fit the film’s disjointed
yet flowing feeling.
The J.D. Salinger Connection:
Igby is clearly a Holden Caulfield based character. In fact, Salinger himself attended a military
school after being kicked out of various prep schools (identical to Igby’s
character). The evocation of the genuine shock and fear true isolation and lack
of direction has comes across very clearly in this movie. While other aspects of the film, especially
Igby’s superiority to his yuppie connection, is highly glamorized to some
degree of faint annoyance, the issue of alienation in other scenes comes across
sincerely and emotionally. Some may argue that Holden’s condescension is often
annoying given his social status, so perhaps to some viewers the novel and film
are nearly identical in effect. As Igby
takes his angst-ridden walks through the city streets like Holden, Culkin’s
acting comes across wonderfully and the cold-feeling of the camerawork brings
out all of the effects of the indifferent urban environment. Just as the death of his brother Allie deeply
affects Holden’s development, Igby is haunted by his father’s “death” (when his
father succumbs completely to schizophrenia and institutionalized permanently).