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A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams is a playwright I have major issues with. His characters are too over-the-top; his symbolism is thick and heavy-handed (that's why high school English classes read his plays - they can be analyzed at a surface level); and his female characters fail at being lost because he tries too hard to make them lost (you wanna make a character lost in a dream world? Go for subtlety). Yet, Elia Kazan's film adaptation of Streetcar has proved itself worthy as a classic. Williams' extreme melodrama is still present, but the actors (namely Brando) give top-notch performances. Vivien Leigh plays a great Blanche even though her classic acting style clashes against Brando's visceral method acting. The film has made me sympathize greater with Blanche's character and disdain Stanley's brutish, animalistic cruelty. Excellent work.