By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Available on VOD
Spoiler Alert
Literary enthusiasts are encouraged to seek out Josephine Decker’s cinematic look into the mirror darkly of Shirley Jackson’s life. This mystery novelist is best known for her horror fiction, namely The Haunting of Hill House. In an amusing twist, this movie is an adaptation of Susan Scarf Merrell‘s novel which examines the life of this author. To have two degrees of separation in this examination of Jackson’s life is reality bending.
In the biopic simply titled Shirley, everything we learn is through the eyes of a fictional couple who stayed with her. Newlyweds Fred (Logan Lerman) and Rose (Odessa Young) witness the turnabout of a happy 50s Americana. They are the perfect foil when comparing them to Jackson and Hyman. By their invitation, they moved in with the author and professor only to witness a teardown of life. As young and glossimer eyed as they are, Fred and Rose want to stay together.