Coming Through the Rye is a 2015 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by James Steven Sadwith. It stars Alex Wolff and Stefania LaVie Owen as two teenagers who set out to find author J. D. Salinger, played by Chris Cooper.[1][2] The film is based on Sadwith's own quest to find Salinger.[3][4] It is Sadwith's directorial debut.[5]
Coming Through the Rye | |
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Directed by | James Steven Sadwith |
Written by | James Steven Sadwith |
Produced by | Stan Erdreich Teddy Grennan James Steven Sadwith Sara Elizabeth Timmins |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Eric Hurt |
Edited by | Todd Holmes |
Music by | Jay Nash Heath McNease Greg LaFollette |
Production companies | Red Hat Films River Bend Pictures |
Distributed by | Eammon Films Samuel Goldwyn Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $4,000 |
In 1969, Jamie Schwartz has written a play adaptation of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and wants to produce it at his prep school in Pennsylvania. In order to do that, Jamie needs permission from Salinger himself. Therefore, Jamie, with the help of DeeDee, travels to New Hampshire in order to find Salinger and obtain his permission.
Sadwith says that the film is a mostly-accurate reflection of what he experienced in his real life. He explains, "The movie is about eighty-five percent accurate with what happened up to the moment when I went to search for J.D. Salinger, and from that point it’s about ninety-nine percent accurate."[6] On November 5, 2014, it was announced that Cooper would portray Salinger in this film.[7][8] On November 6, 2014, Zephyr Benson was cast in the film.[9] The film was shot on location in and around Woodberry Forest School,[10] and the nearby town, Orange, Virginia as well as Madison, VA.[11] It was also filmed in the Shenandoah Valley.[12]
The film made its worldwide premiere at the 2015 Austin Film Festival.[13] The film made its wide release on October 14, 2016 by Eammon Films and Samuel Goldwyn Films.[14]
The film has a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[15]
Barbara Van Denburgh of The Arizona Republic gave the film two and a half stars out of five.[16]
Godfrey Cheshire of RogerEbert.com gave the film three stars.[17]
S. Jhoanna Robledo of Common Sense Media gave the film three stars out of five.[18]
Tricia Olszewski of TheWrap referred to the film as "a sweet and inviting road trip, taking place in the colorful fall and accompanied by an indie soundtrack that lulls. It’s also a trip back in time, offering the now-archaic sound of a typewriter’s taps and the quaintness of a period in which a man and woman had to be married to secure a motel room. The fledgling relationship between Jamie and Deedee is touching, too, with both actors giving natural if not outstanding performances."[19]
Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Sadwith works expertly with all of the castmembers, and he also brings visual flair to the pastoral scenes in New Hampshire. Eric Hurt’s cinematography is a strong asset. Sadwith’s writing is equally perceptive."[20]
Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times wrote a negative review, stating that the film "feels like standard teen angst."[21]
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Books | The Catcher in the Rye (1951) · Nine Stories (1953) · Franny and Zooey (1961) · Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963) · Three Early Stories (2014) |
Short stories | The Young Folks (1940) · Go See Eddie (1940) · The Hang of It (1941) · The Heart of a Broken Story (1941) · Personal Notes of an Infantryman (1942) · The Long Debut of Lois Taggett (1942) · The Varioni Brothers (1943) · Both Parties Concerned (1944) · Soft-Boiled Sergeant (1944) · Last Day of the Last Furlough (1944) · Once a Week Won't Kill You (1944) · Elaine (1945) · The Stranger (1945) · I'm Crazy (1945) · A Boy in France (1945) · This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise (1945) · Slight Rebellion off Madison (1946) · A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All (1947) · The Inverted Forest (1947) · Blue Melody (1948) · A Girl I Knew (1948) · A Perfect Day for Bananafish (1948) · Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (1948) · Just Before the War with the Eskimos (1948) · The Laughing Man (1949) · Down at the Dinghy (1949) · For Esmé—with Love and Squalor (1950) · Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes (1951) · De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period (1952) · Teddy (1953) · Hapworth 16, 1924 (1965) |
Unpublished stories | The Survivors (1939) · The long hotel story (1940) · The Fishermen (1941) · Lunch for Three (1941) · I Went to School with Adolf Hitler (1941) · Monologue for a Watery Highball (1941) · The Lovely Dead Girl at Table Six (1941) · Mrs. Hincher (1942) · The Kissless Life of Reilly (1942) · The Last and Best of the Peter Pans (1942) · Holden On the Bus (1942) · Men Without Hemingway (1942) · Over the Sea Let’s Go, Twentieth Century Fox (1942) · The Broken Children (1943) · Paris (1943) · Rex Passard on the Planet Mars (1943) · Bitsey (1943) · What Got Into Curtis in the Woodshed (1944) · The Children's Echelon (1944) · Boy Standing in Tennessee (1944) · The Magic Foxhole (1944) · Two Lonely Men (1944) · A Young Man in a Stuffed Shirt (1944) · The Daughter of the Late, Great Man (1945) · The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls (1947) · Birthday Boy (1946) · The Boy in the People Shooting Hat (1948) · A Summer Accident (1949) · Requiem for the Phantom of the Opera (1950) |
Movies based on his life and works | My Foolish Heart (1949) · Pari (1995) · Salinger (2013, also a biography) · Coming Through the Rye (2015) · Rebel in the Rye (2017) · My Salinger Year (2020) |
Works by J. D. Salinger (Category) · Holden Caulfield (Character) · Glass family (Characters) · Matt Salinger (Son) · Salinger v. Random House, Inc. (Law case) |