Coffee is for closers

CineVerse took an in-depth peek at the high-stress life of a salesman last evening with a viewing of Glengarry Glen Ross. The group discussion garnered many cogent comments. Here's a roundup of what was talked about.

WHAT ARE THIS FILM’S GREATEST STRENGTHS AND WHAT ARE ITS GREATEST WEAKNESSES?

·       The film benefits from the whip smart writing of David Mamet, especially the credible dialogue and distinctive vernacular of the characters, as well as the rhythm and cadence of the language.

·       Incredible casting featuring an A list of top-notch actors, each of whom could carry their own movie: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin.

·       The story is very condensed, occurring over roughly a 24-hour period; hence, we get a snapshot portrait of each character within a short time frame and within a pressure cooker milieu.

·       However, there isn’t much of a story or a plot here; the theft and the investigation of it adds intrigue, but this is really less of a story than it is a character study and a depiction of a harsh workplace environment and vocation.

·       Written originally as a stage play, there isn’t much action or shifting to interesting settings. Hence, this isn’t a film that’s going to showcase dramatic camera movement, innovative editing techniques or impressive sets. It’s a film that soars or fails on the merits of its characters, which means that it had better be well scripted and well acted.

·       It’s also a very bleak, pessimistic and tonally dark picture with many unsympathetic characters that can leave you feeling depressed and cynical.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR THEMES PLAYED OUT IN GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS?

·       The quest for materialistic rewards leads to corruption, decay and destruction.

·       Mamet stated that the play is about “how business corrupts” and about how “those in power in the business world…act unethically.”

·       Critics and historians have posited that this play, written in the 1980s, is Mamet’s critique of Reaganomics and the “greed is good” materialistic ideology of the eighties.

·       The unfair system in business and capitalism whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer; those who succeed are rewarded with more opportunities to succeed, while those who struggle cannot advance.

o   Mamet was heard to say about his play: “This is play is not…about love. This is a play about guys, who when one guy is down…the guy who’s up then kicks the other guy in the balls to make sure he stays down.”

·       Nobody wins in a corporate culture that emphasizes greed and numbers over human beings: by the end of the film, every character has lost: Roma’s sale to Lingk has been lost; Lingk feels like he has disappointed Roma; Williamson has lost business with the ransacked office; Levene and Moss will be prosecuted; Aaranow is even accused of theft.

·       The universal experience of being in a job you hate and feeling powerless and desperate as you’re trapped in that position.

·       This is also a study about the persuasiveness of language: those characters who are able to verbalize persuasively better succeed and command respect

·       In this story, masculinity defines a character; as writer Helen Johnson put it: “the audience hears that a salesman’s masculinity is based, almost exclusively, on his ability to sell products to his customers.” Masculinity in this universe is earned.

o   Interestingly, however, each character is emasculated during the film in their mission to “act like a man.”

WHAT OTHER FILMS OR WORKS OF LITERATURE DOES THIS MOVIE REMIND YOU OF?

·       Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

·       Wall Street

·       Reservoir Dogs, in how there’s not much of a plot, it’s a character-driven piece with terrific dialogue, and nearly every character betrays each other.

·       Patton, in that both films start off with tremendous opening monologues that play like stern pep talks.