Poster of Salinger

Salinger

Drama

Director: Philippe Falardeau

Release Date: March 5, 2021

Where to Watch

Salinger as a documentary is shocking and subversive because it puts a man who mostly disappeared under the microscope, but it really is not. Salinger is largely reverential even while revealing his flaws. I loved when one talking head essentially suggested that it was subversive for a teenage boy to question The New Yorker’s standards–um, has this person met teenage boys? Or teenage girls? They question everything and think that they know everything. I enjoyed the documentary, but I did discover this untapped disgust that I had for Salinger. Not because he was probably a pedophile (repeated penchant for teenage girls), an awful husband, or a delinquent father (at least he figured it out & didn’t have more after he got divorced), but because while he claimed to be protective of his privacy and lashed out at any one that tried to pierce his sanctuary, he repeatedly courts that attention, uses his fame to get that attention to come to him, emerges from the shadows THEN lashes out. Also while I liked The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey, they never resonated with me longer than a few minutes after finishing them. For those who love Salinger, apparently he was writing until he died, and some of those books will be released starting next year.

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