The mods should all be banned.

This is one of the best movies of the year so far, and one you should definitely seek out amidst all the titles in the indie marketplace this summer. Logan Lerman deserves awards consideration for his work here, and Sarah Gadon is also fantastic. The eighteen-minute scene between Lerman and Tracy Letts in the middle of the movie (that's kind of showcased in the trailer) is absolutely INCREDIBLE and is sure to be one of the best scenes of the year. A

Set in the early 1950s, Indignation turns on Jewish-born atheist teenager Marcus (Logan Lerman). He avoids serving in Korea by receiving a scholarship to a university in Ohio. There, he excels in academia, but earns few friends and only hesitantly socializes until encountering Olivia (Sarah Gadon), a beautiful student whose bold sexuality and troubled past both exhilarate and frighten Marcus. A grim fate for Marcus and Olivia is frequently foreshadowed via voice-over concerning how choices large and small lead every person directly to the moment of his or her death. The pedigreed brand on the label is novelist Philip Roth, but Indignation is also evocative of the Coen brothers: the deeply flawed protagonist ill at ease with his Jewish heritage, the sense of an ambivalent or even cruel universe, etc. Directing his first feature after decades of producing and writing, including several collaborations with Ang Lee, James Schamus is not as adept as Ethan and Joel. Indignation tends toward the same self-serious, stately note rather than more deftly fusing the madcap and the tragic. It is still an interesting and worthwhile film, however. It vividly submerges the audience in a Truman-era collegiate atmosphere of conservatism and conformism. Agitated and earnest, Lerman delivers the most dynamic performance of his still-developing career, and Gadon also casts a memorable spell despite playing a fairly contrived character whose emotional experience is never valued as highly as her male counterpart's. The film also has an arguably overwrought, yet undeniably electrifying centerpiece in the form of a 18-minute debate regarding theism waged by Marcus and the school's avuncular and old-fashioned dean, played by playwright and actor Tracy Letts.

B

Indignation does a pitch perfect rendition of social class in the 1950's. Sure, the set decoration, costumes and overall attention to every retro detail is impeccable, but the hardest aspect of this type of re-creation is communicating the subteties of social class in a very specific time and place. Without banging you over the head with it. Rookie feature director James Schamus has crafted a very finely modulated and evocative period piece straight out of the gate. The masterful rhetoric is a delightful bonus. *A*

This was a great movie that could have been brilliant if the voice-over didn't set my expectations to a fate of leads that I would have otherwise not seen coming. The 50's setup and other details are great thanks to good direction from James Schamus. The 18 minute scene is brilliant and its one of the best scenes I have seen in theaters, I could kind of relate to both sides of arguments while rooting for Marcus and that's a mix very hard to find. Logan Lerman does a brilliant job here and I am hoping he gets some awards attention for his work, Letts is great as well. As the love interest of Marcus, Olivia (played finely by Sarah Gadon) is a great character but never explored here specially when the movie depicts the future of the two leads upfront.

8/10

I don't know what everyone saw in this one. Lerman is great and the big scene between he and Tracy Letts is the highlight. Other than that it's just not very good and is kind of dull. What really drags it down is a terrible ending. I hadn't read the book so I don't blame the film for that. Perhaps it comes off way better there but here it feels silly.

5/10 ( C )