Thursday, October 31, 2024

Across the River and Into the Trees

From the perspective of great literature, Venice is the city to go when death is near. In fact, Hemingway’s Venetian novel is often compared to the classic Thomas Mann novella. Both focus on dying men who spend their final days pondering a younger beauty. In Hemingway’s novel, Col. Richard Cantwell is more directly involved with the young and noble-born Renata Contari. In this adaptation, their relationship is less romantic and therefore arguably healthier. Unfortunately, his heart is just as weak in Paula Ortiz’s adaptation of Hemingway’s Across the River and Into the Trees, which releases this Friday on VOD.

Col. Cantwell must be a difficult patient, considering he refuses to follow the advice of Danny Huston (playing his doctor, Captain Wes O’Neil). He insists on taking a duck-hunting trip outside Venice, so the best O’Neil can do is assign him a driver, Sgt. Jackson. Despite the grief he takes, the NCO still appreciates a veteran battlefield officer like Cantwell.

For his part, Cantwell most certainly appreciates a woman like Contari, despite his grim state of mind. Their paths just keep crossing, maybe not so accidentally. It was coincidence that Cantwell had hoped to buy a set of vintage hunting rifles from her cash-poor, but too proud to be cooperative mother. After that, it is largely sympathetic attraction, and perhaps Contari’s passive-aggressive hope to undermine her arranged marriage. She is betrothed to an old family friend, but he is not half the man battle-scarred Cantwell is.

It is pretty easy to guess Cantwell’s real business in Venice, especially if you have any familiarity with Hemingway’s life and work. Nonetheless, the world-weary officer also hopes to conclude another piece of unfinished business, by uncovering the mass burial site of a group of partisans executed by the SS, for distinctly personal reasons.

Ortiz and screenwriter Peter Flannery definitely scrubbed Hemingway’s novel for contemporary viewers. They water down Cantwell’s romance with Contari to essentially a platonic friendship, with close dancing and maybe one or two kisses. They also completely expurgate all references to Stonewall Jackson, from whom the title came.

However, Hemingway readers will appreciate the way Flannery reliably recreates the cadences of his dialogue. This is also an appropriately boozy and smoky film. Ortiz seems to take inspiration from
The Third Man, nearly transmuting Hemingway into film noir, in much the same tradition as Robert Siodmak and Don Siegel’s adaptations of “The Killers.”

It works pretty well, especially considering how fully Ortiz and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe capitalize on the Venice locations. Of course, it greatly helps that we can only see and not smell the dank Italian cultural capitol.

Ortiz also has grizzled, spellcheck-challenging Liev Schreiber as Col. Cantwell. His military bearing is convincing, as is his mournful brooding. Schreiber also has nicely ambiguous chemistry with Matild De Angelis, who is considerably more charismatic here than she is in
Citadel: Diana (and her hairstyle is symmetrical). Of course, Huston’s presence adds authority during his brief but notable appearance as Capt. O’Neil. Frankly, Josh Hutcherson does a fair enough job aw-shucks-ing as Jackson, as well. Indeed, Ortiz shows handles the cast with a deft hand.

Admittedly, Ortiz and Flannery both add and subtract quite a bit from the source novel, but they nicely capture the spirit of Hemingway’s writing. This is a talky film, but that is a good thing, because the dialogue rings true. Recommended for the melancholy atmosphere and Schreiber’s appropriately manly fatalism,
Across the River and Into the Trees releases Friday (11/1) on VOD.