When college graduate Joanna decides to take a clerical job working in a literary agency, she puts her own ambitions on hold of becoming a writer. The agency she works for just happens to represent reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.
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*Original Title – My Salinger Year*
In the late 90s on wanting to stay in New York City instead of returning to California, Joanna wanted to live out her ambitions of becoming a writer. Although her interest was more poetry than novels, the literacy agency she ends up working for represents Salinger, must well known for writing The Catcher in the Rye which everyone seems obsessed with and she eventually admits she hasn’t actually read it (in all honesty, I haven’t either, is this more of an American thing?)
She struggles in battles with her bos Margaret who never wants an assistant who is actually interested in being a writer and they must be able to use a typewriter, and not just a computer. Leaving her boyfriend behind as well, she drastically changed her life and then ended up with Don who guess what was also aspiring to be a writer and doing his first novel. Although the less said about him the better as a total waste of time, effort and space.
The main job that Joanna must do is reply to the fan mail sent for Salinger, she is told not to deviate away from the standardised reponses depending on the question that is being asked. All of this really says that Salinger refuses any mail, naturally she cannot help herself and pushes the boundaries to this and in all honesty the outcome was actually quite amusing. Although having read a little more about Salinger after watching the film, it is probably best they didn’t go into too much detail about certain aspects of his life.
Considering I had not heard of the film before stumbling across it on a streaming service, I am actually pleased to have watched it as it was a nice little film with a few other topics covered within it. Obviously Sigourney Weaver was the main pulling point in this one and at times her character felt a little bit like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Margaret Qualley gives a good enough leading performance to keep engagement.
