Movie Review: My Salinger Year (2020)

Also Known As: My New York Year  

Genre: Biographical Drama  

Director: Philippe Falardeau  

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver  

Running Time: 101 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1995, aspiring writer Joanna Rakoff (Margaret Qualley) abandons Berkeley college (and her boyfriend) and moves to New York City. She lands a job at an old-school literary agency as the assistant to the demanding Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), who represents legendary but reclusive author J.D. Salinger. Joanna is tasked with sending form response letters to Salinger's fans, but does not abandon dreams of becoming a writer. In her personal life she enters a relationship with socialist Don (Douglas Booth), and as she delves deeper into Salinger's mystique, life gets more complicated.

What Works Well: Based on writer Joanna Rakoff's actual experiences as recounted in her book, this is an intimate and heartfelt journey into a dusty corner of the literary world. Carrying echoes of Working Girl and The Devil Wears Prada but with softer analog edges, Joanna finds herself unwittingly occupying a front row seat to the Salinger enigma. Her well-meaning attempts to treat his fans with more respect backfire into a few episodes of humour and fantasy, while personal growth and the sharpening of life's ambitions flow naturally from exposure to office dynamics and leaning into professional challenges. Margaret Qualley is an engaging lead, and Sigourney Weaver adds texture as the technophobe boss stoutly defending the past.

What Does Not Work As Well: The few attempts at broader philosophical musings cannot hide the deeply personal and ultimately narrow application of the material.

Key Quote:

Margaret: Writers make the worst assistants. Get to work.



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