Martin Eden review: An epic tale of empty ambition
Review Overview
Performance
9Script
8Editing
7Daniel Broadley | On 09, Jul 2021
Director: Pietro Marcello
Cast: Luca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy, Vincenzo Nemolato, Marco Leonardi
Certificate: 15
Author Jack London may be best known for his novel The Call of the Wild, but it’s his 1909 novel, Martin Eden, that is the subject of this Italian screen adaptation. It follows the titular central character in an all-too-familiar Dickensian rags-to-riches tale. The working class merchant navy-man has ambitions above his pay grade: to become a writer and marry the well-to-do, well-educated Elena. Despite his class, he is not a through and through socialist, but a passionate individualist, who believes he can improve himself and his position through self-education. Only, when he reaches the top, he finds emptiness in his success, echoing the tragedies of Charles Foster Kane or Daniel Plainview.
Luca Marinelli dominates every frame he’s in. This is a career-best performance – working a solid script that matches his talent – as he embodies something of a young Robert De Niro, his easy machismo confidence ensuring Martin knows how to look after himself with plenty of charm and looks to woo the ladies and make friends wherever he goes. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the change occurs, but the difference between Marinelli’s naive, wistful, and passionate young Eden and the older, nihilist (albeit successful) Eden is sensational to watch and reminiscent of Pacino’s Michael Corleone. Stories regarding the burden of success are all too familiar, but a performance as good as Marinelli’s brings life and energy to well-trodden territory.
That’s not to say his performance carries the film. Far from it. Pietro Marcello confidently directs his cast and intercuts the action with what looks like archived footage and family home videos from the 60s and 70s. Couple that with an original soundtrack (courtesy of Marco Messina and Sacha Ricci) which is a mixture of classical music and more modern, pulsating electronic tracks, and you’re left with a sense that Martin Eden’s story transcends its time and setting, that his cynicism and malaise will become all the more common in the post-modern world. There’s even a brief but foreboding appearance from Mussolini’s Blackshirts.
Near the start of the film, Martin eyes a painting with Elena from afar. It is beautiful, he says, but up close it is nothing but stains, “an illusion”. This prescient scene sets the mood for the film: a sense of hopelessness but also deep romanticism.
Having competed for the Golden Lion at Venice way back in September 2019, where Marinelli bagged the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Martin Eden had almost been forgotten since its festival and awards buzz, but is now finally available to watch in the UK.