The Broken Tower (film)

Last updated

The Broken Tower
TheBrokenTower2011Poster.jpg
Film poster for The Broken Tower
Directed by James Franco
Screenplay byJames Franco
Based on The Broken Tower
by Paul L. Mariani
Produced byJames Franco
Caroline Aragon
Vince Jolivette
Miles Levy
Christina Voros
StarringJames Franco
Michael Shannon
CinematographyChristina Voros
Edited byJames Franco
Music byNeil Benezra
Production
companies
Rabbit Bandini Productions [1]
Made-in-Film-Land [1]
Distributed by Focus World [1]
Release dates
  • June 20, 2011 (2011-06-20)(LAFF)
  • April 27, 2012 (2012-04-27)(United States)
Running time
99 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Broken Tower is a 2011 American biographical drama film directed, written, produced, edited by and starring James Franco. The film was made by Franco as his master's thesis for his MFA in filmmaking from New York University. The film is about American poet Hart Crane. Franco appears in the starring role as Crane along with Michael Shannon as one of Crane's lovers. The Broken Tower made its world premiere in April 2011 at Boston College. It was shown at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF) in June 2011. It was released to theatres in the United States on April 27, 2012, [2] and released on DVD in 2012. The film includes the recitation by Franco of several of Crane's poems both as voice-over additions to the film, as well as actual readings of several poems rendered by Franco as portraying Crane himself.

Contents

Plot

The film begins with a plot structure based on a progression of chapters titled as "Voyages" in Hart Crane's life loosely related to Crane's lyric poem of the same name. In the first "Voyages", a depiction is made of an early attempt by Crane to take his own life. Among the other opening "Voyages", the audience is also shown depictions of several same-sex relationships which Crane had throughout his lifetime in semi-graphic portrayal consistent with the film's rating. Crane's life is shown progressing through the various "Voyages" in the film, largely portrayed through his troubled relationship with the father, his close relationship to his mother, and his frustrating relationship to his job in advertising as a copyrighter in New York City. In the final "Voyages," Crane's difficult relationship to alcoholism is depicted, ending with his final "Voyage" on a small cruise ship at sea in the vicinity of Mexico where Crane ended his life by his own hand.

Cast

Production

Franco thought of the idea for the film while reading Paul Mariani's biography of Crane, also entitled The Broken Tower after the name of one of Crane's poems, on the set of his 2002 movie Sonny . Franco had publicly stated that the poet's tragic life story attracted him to the material. [3] The DVD release of the film includes a supplement which has an interview of Mariani with Franco.

Release

The film's world premiere was held at Boston College on April 15, 2011. Franco chose to debut it at that venue since Mariani is a professor of English there. [4] The Broken Tower was screened at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival on June 20. [3] It was among more than 200 feature films, short projects, and music videos from more than 30 countries to be selected. [5] It was released on DVD March 2012. [6]

Critical response

Critical response to the film was largely negative. The Broken Tower has an approval rating of 20% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 5/10. [7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [8] In one critical review, Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News writes, "It's not an insult to say the black-and-white film looks like a grad-school thesis project, since that's what it is (for Franco's MFA at NYU). . .But that does mean you should be prepared for some high-minded pretension, lots of self-consciously arty shots, and long stretches of apparently profound nothingness." [9] Although Weitzman is critical of Franco's writing and directing, she does compliment the film's cinematography and Franco's acting. In a review in The Village Voice, Melissa Anderson wrote that the film was "sincere, amateurish, and misguided" and that it was full of literary biopic cliches. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hart Crane</span> American poet (1899–1932)

Harold Hart Crane was an American poet. Inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote highly stylized modernist poetry, often noted for its complexity. His collection White Buildings (1926), featuring "Chaplinesque", "At Melville's Tomb", "Repose of Rivers" and "Voyages", helped to cement his place in the avant-garde literary scene of the time. The long poem The Bridge (1930) is an epic inspired by Eliot's The Waste Land (1922) and by the Brooklyn Bridge.

<i>Bulletproof</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Bulletproof is a 1996 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Ernest Dickerson and starring Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Franco</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1978)

James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), Milk (2008), Eat Pray Love (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He has collaborated with fellow actor Seth Rogen on multiple projects, including Pineapple Express (2008), This Is the End (2013), Sausage Party (2016), and The Disaster Artist (2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Franco's performance in 127 Hours (2010) earned a Best Actor nomination at the 83rd Academy Awards.

<i>The Dream Team</i> (1989 film) 1989 film by Howard Zieff

The Dream Team is a 1989 American comedy thriller film directed by Howard Zieff and produced by Christopher W. Knight for Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures. It stars Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle and Stephen Furst as mental-hospital inpatients who are left unsupervised in New York City during a field trip gone awry. Jon Connolly and David Loucka wrote the screenplay.

<i>Henry & June</i> 1990 film by Philip Kaufman

Henry & June is a 1990 American biographical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros. It is loosely based on the posthumously published 1986 Anaïs Nin book of the same name, and tells the story of Nin's relationship with Henry Miller and his wife, June.

<i>Backbeat</i> (film) 1994 film by Iain Softley

Backbeat is a 1994 independent drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, West Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon, and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr. It has subsequently been made into a stage production.

<i>Free Enterprise</i> (film) 1999 American film

Free Enterprise is a 1999 romantic comedy film starring Eric McCormack and Rafer Weigel, and featuring William Shatner, directed by Robert Meyer Burnett and written by Mark A. Altman and Burnett.

<i>Auto Focus</i> 2002 American film

Auto Focus is a 2002 American biographical drama film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. The screenplay by Michael Gerbosi is based on Robert Graysmith's book The Murder of Bob Crane (1993).

<i>Love Jones</i> (film) 1997 film by Theodore Witcher

Love Jones is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Theodore Witcher, in his feature film directing debut. The film stars Larenz Tate, Nia Long, Isaiah Washington, Bill Bellamy, and Lisa Nicole Carson.

<i>Basket Case 2</i> 1990 film by Frank Henenlotter

Basket Case 2 is a 1990 American comedy horror film written and directed by Frank Henenlotter, and the sequel to his 1982 film Basket Case. It stars Kevin Van Hentenryck reprising his role as Duane Bradley, who moves with his deformed, formerly conjoined twin brother Belial into a home for "unique individuals" run by their deceased aunt’s friend, eccentric philanthropist Granny Ruth.

Paul Mariani is an American poet and is University Professor Emeritus at Boston College.

<i>White Buildings</i> 1926 poetry collection by Hart Crane

White Buildings was the first collection (1926) of poetry by Hart Crane, an American modernist poet, critical to both lyrical and language poetic traditions.

"The Broken Tower" is the last poem meant to be published by poet Hart Crane in 1932. In keeping with the varieties and difficulties of Crane criticism, the poem has been interpreted widely—as death ode, life ode, process poem, visionary poem, poem on failed vision—but its biographical impetus out of Crane's first heterosexual affair is generally undisputed. Written early in the year, the poem was rejected by Poetry, and only appeared in print after Crane's famous suicide by water.

Marguerite Frances Cowley, known as Peggy Cowley and also as Peggy Baird and by her first married name Peggy Johns, was an American landscape painter. She was married to poet-playwright Orrick Johns and writer Malcolm Cowley and was the lover of playwright Eugene O'Neill and poet Hart Crane.

<i>Your Highness</i> 2011 US stoner comic fantasy film by David Gordon Green

Your Highness is a 2011 American stoner comic fantasy film directed by David Gordon Green. It stars Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, and Justin Theroux. Written by McBride and Ben Best, the film was released on April 8, 2011. It follows an arrogant prince and his brother on a quest to kill a sorcerer and save the bride and their father's kingdom. The film received negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing $28 million worldwide against a $50 million budget.

<i>Howl</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein

Howl is a 2010 American film which explores both the 1955 Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem "Howl". The film is written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and stars James Franco as Ginsberg.

<i>Peep World</i> 2010 film by Barry W. Blaustein

Peep World is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry W. Blaustein and written by Peter Himmelstein. It stars Judy Greer, Michael C. Hall, Taraji P. Henson, Kate Mara, Ron Rifkin, Ben Schwartz, Sarah Silverman, Lesley Ann Warren and Rainn Wilson. The story revolves around the Meyerwitz family causing trouble to each other after the youngest member reveals each other's secrets in his novel. It premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival on September 15, 2010, and was theatrically released by IFC Films on March 25, 2011. Peep World garnered a negative reception from critics over its script and the cast portraying broad caricatures.

<i>As I Lay Dying</i> (film) 2013 film

As I Lay Dying is a 2013 American drama film directed and co-written by and starring James Franco, based on William Faulkner's 1930 novel of the same name. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard Section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Dont Come Back from the Moon</i> 2017 American film

Don't Come Back from the Moon is a 2017 American independent drama film written and directed by Bruce Thierry Cheung. It is based on Dean Bakopoulos' 2005 novel, Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon. It stars Jeffrey Wahlberg, Alyssa Elle Steinacker, Rashida Jones, James Franco, and Henry Hopper.

<i>Pretenders</i> (2018 film) 2018 film directed by James Franco

Pretenders is a 2018 American drama film directed by James Franco from a screenplay by Josh Boone. It stars Jack Kilmer, Jane Levy, Shameik Moore, Juno Temple, Brian Cox, Dennis Quaid and Franco.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "AFI-Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  2. "The Broken Tower". TWELV. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Pfefferman, Naomi (June 15, 2011). "James Franco Q & A: His Film on Tortured Gay Poet Hart Crane". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Archived from the original on June 20, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  4. Monaghan, Peter (April 11, 2011). "James Franco Brings Hart Crane to the Big Screen". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  5. Kaufman, Amy (May 11, 2011). "2011 Los Angeles Film Festival will welcome stars Guillermo del Toro, James Franco, Ryan Reynolds and more". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  6. "Broken Tower". Amazon. March 27, 2012.
  7. "Broken Tower - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes . October 2, 2011. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. "The Broken Tower". Metacritic .
  9. "James Franco gets arty with 'The Broken Tower'". New York Daily News . July 3, 2012. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  10. Anderson, Melissa (April 25, 2012). "The Broken Tower". Village Voice . Retrieved October 19, 2016.