There have been many unsuccessful attempts in academia to find Salinger's autobiographical elements from the protagonist Holden in "The Catcher in the Rye", but they were all unsuccessful. And this movie clearly depicts the parallel features between the author and the protagonist of the novel. Some scenes in the movie are also selected from classic scenes in the novel. For example, at the end of the novel, Holden is watching the carousel in the rain. After Salinger stayed in the park to watch the merry-go-round, Holden asked the taxi driver where the duck went after the lake was frozen in the winter park. Salinger got in touch with a stranger in the park and asked the duck where to go in winter and was beaten up by a stranger. There are many examples of using classic scenes in the novel to frame Salinger in this movie, and this kind of treatment can easily lead people to think that the novel contains a lot of autobiographical elements, which is very absurd and misleading.
This film is also a big challenge for Nick, because what he wants to portray is not Salinger alone, but two roles of Salinger and Holden. At this point, he failed: there is one person from the beginning to the end. Nick in the play, and he worked hard to perform the role he was not qualified for. On another point, Nick wanted to shape Salinger's different states in different periods, and the transitions during the period were too abrupt and unconvincing.
The structure of the film is also very strange, especially the beginning of the flashback, and this flashback is from the time when Salinger was mentally traumatized after Salinger stepped down from the front line. Such a treatment would make people who are not familiar with Salinger's life feel inexplicable.
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