Friday Night Flicks: Martin Eden
I’m a sucker for a writer trying to claw his away out of lower social class through their art. It’s probably one of the most doomed ambitions one can have. But it might be what keeps good art being made. Swinging for the fences is bound to lead to a few homers, right?
This Pietro Marcello directed film is based on a book by Jack London. It came out during Covid and never had a theatrical release in the US. It’s available to watch for free if you have a Kanopy subscription, which only costs you a library card.
After saving Arturo, a young scion of the industrial middle class, from a beating, the sailor Martin Eden is invited to the boy’s family home. Here he (of course) meets Elena, Arturo’s beautiful sister, and falls in love with her at first sight. The cultured and refined young woman becomes not only the object of Martin’s affections but also a symbol of the social status he aspires to achieve.
Poor sucker. Worth a watch if you wanna get Old World and romanticize being a successful writer.—Travis Ferré
