Ragtime the Movie

This is a little spoiler for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet; I just thought I would post my thoughts now.

Overall, I was disappointed by the movie. A lot of what we talked about regarding the novel mentioned the multiple plot lines forming a rhythm to the book that mirrored the rhythm of the ragtime music. Through the multiple narratives we got different emphases on different perspectives, all regarding the American identity around the turn of the century. Through this the famous and obscure stood next to one another. I thought the movie forced too much emphasis on a plot line that, yes, was essential to the dramatic engine of the story but hardly served as the only point of intrigue for it. We don't see Houdini's transformation, or Father's journey to the arctic, or Goodman at all. It's as if there were pieces of the composition left out, or bars where placement on the downbeat changed the whole feeling of a measure.

One thing I thought that was interesting though was the way the movie handled dialogue. If you'll notice in the book there are no direct conversations recorded by the narrator. Any dialogue is handled in a manner similar to "She said something along the lines of _____, and he cordially responded with ______". This left a lot of room open for interpretation of the character's voice and word choice, which has a large impact on how a character is portrayed. To me, all of them were slightly off. For example, Evelyn was much less aware of her beauty, and came off as quite the ditz in the film. I suppose this would just be my interpretation, however. In general it is hard to bring characters to life, and without any direct lines it must have been even harder.

Overall, I would give this movie 2/5 stars. It was lacked luster for a movie depicting the gilded age in America.