The Hottest State Review

Ethan Hawke’s novel, The Hottest State, was published in 1997. It is an unflinching account of a young man’s devastating experience of first love. Naturally, since it is written by an actor, the story is very cinematic in quality, so it was just a matter of time until the book was made into a movie.

Novel vs. Movie

The movie remains, for the most part, remarkably faithful to the book, with a few glaring exceptions. The main aspect where the story differs is that the female lead, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, is Mexican and strikingly beautiful. In the novel, the same character is of Irish descent and not conventionally pretty.

Her imperfect beauty is what attracts the main character to her in the first place, so changing the love interest almost entirely is not in the spirit of the book. Other changes include a lover’s tryst taking place in Mexico rather than in Paris. A scene between father and son is played out in person instead of on the phone. Finally, the book’s truly touching ending is replaced with a kind of schlocky let’s-wrap-this-thing-up conclusion.

Other than those obvious differences, the essential atmosphere of the book is maintained in the film. Happily, many direct passages from the book are used as dialogue and narration.

Oscar Nominee Cast

The main role of William, obviously a somewhat biographical character for Hawke, is played by Mark Webber, who does a competent job with the daunting task of translating the moving and heavy words of the book into a living, breathing character. You get the feeling that Hawke would have ideally wanted to play the part himself, but, being about 15 years too old, he settles for playing William’s estranged father (he does beef up the role a bit from the book version). Other massively skilled support players round out the cast including Michelle Williams as one of William’s ex-girlfriends (sadly, a significant subplot involving her character is left out of the movie) and Laura Linney as William’s long-suffering mother.

The quality of acting takes a decisive turn for the worst when we come to Catalina Sandino Moreno’s performance. Sure, she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Maria Full of Grace, but that was in her first language, Spanish. When she is forced to act in English, it’s a different story. Every line comes out of her mouth sounding like something from a grade 8 play, which is unfortunate, since she was given such beautiful words to work with. She possesses none of the endearing awkwardness that the character of Sarah has in the book and one is hard pressed to think of any reason why William would fall so helplessly in love with this self-involved, uninteresting girl.

With so many Oscar nominees in the cast (in addition to Moreno, Williams was nominated for Brokeback Mountain, Linney for Kinsey and You Can Count on Me and Hawke for Training Day), one would expect the acting to be nothing less than brilliant. And with the exception of Moreno’s struggles with the English language, it does not disappoint.

Writing What He Knows

The material is obviously very personal to Hawke and he directs the picture deftly and with great feeling. The soundtrack is entirely made up of songs written by his friend, Jesse Harris, and performed by a variety of contemporary artists from Willie Nelson to Norah Jones, picked specially to match each scene.

Standing on its own, it is a decent film, but compared to the stunning perfection of the novel, the film falls short.

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