Miss Lonelyhearts
Years ago, when I fist read MISS LONELYHEARTS, I was fascinated by Nathanael West’s novel of a young man’s attempts to come to grips with both the misery of the world and his own helplessness. And later, as a director, I was intrigued by the prospect of attempting to re-create the Westian universe. MISS LONELYHEARTS is a film of shadows, a film about a world that is inhabited by broken people who desperately want to connect. Although the film is a depiction of Depression-torn America, it is also a timeless reflection of our own modern world. It is about despair and alienation and violence and fragmentation and dehumanization and victimization and sterility. And the film’s horrifying conclusion is one with which we are familiar: If man seeks to adress his fellow man, whether through the active pursuit of love or the passive submission to others, he is destroyed. This is our history and our legacy. Michael DINNER
