'Salinger' documentary debuts at TIFF to weak praise

The documentary Salinger has buzz surrounding it entering its showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Unfortunately it seems to be earning mixed reviews.

Christian Science Monitor's Peter Rainer felt the movie was "by turns fascinating and infuriating."

The movie, directed by Shane Salerno, tried to entice moviegoers with the "Uncover the Mystery but Don't Spoil the Secrets," though it already did that when it was revealed that there could be five new books from the author released sometime in the future.

Rainer continues that Salerno is "a showman who treats Salinger's life in expose fashion, heavy on the psychobiography." The movie talks about his background and past leading up to Catcher in the Rye with little new to add, just perhaps a little more detail. Though he still gave the movie a B grade.

The film is "full of hyperbole and speculation," A.O. Scott at The New York Times adds.

Scott is much harsher in his review saying, "It does not so much explore the life and times of J.D. Salinger as run his memory and legacy through a spin cycle of hype."

He also describes the music score as unfitting of a documentary. When the movie mentions the five new books, it is "blasted onto the screen with the kind of music that usually accompanies the destruction of a planet."

Not to be all negative, USA Today's Claudie Puig found it was "engrossing" but "flawed."

image: YouTube trailer

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