Set Fire to the Stars

In this technically masterful biopic of elegantly wasted Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (played with bearish belligerence by Celyn Jones), black-and-white cinematography is used to powerful effect. Set Fire to the Stars features the eternally youthful Elijah Wood playing the near-somnambulant John Brinnin, a stodgy but ambitious New York poetry professor who accepts the honor and burden of becoming Thomas's manager on a much-anticipated reading tour of America in 1950. Brinnin hasn't a clue about what he's getting into, but soon enough gets a full dose of Thomas's drunken unmanageability, and realizes that his job is more akin to a babysitter/animal trainer than a manager. Brinnin and Thomas's relationship not only becomes a colossal psychological battle of wills, but also sets up a more primal tug-of war between the forces of feeling and intellect. The outwardly stiff, almost mock-Shakespearean character Brinnin makes the classic mistake of trying to understand Thomas the noble savage through questioning regarding the creative process behind the latter's immortal verse. Thomas, it turns out, can actually be tamed—just not by a hapless poetry teacher. Director Andy Goddard's portrait offers a stirring snapshot of Thomas's supernova-like career. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include deleted and extended scenes (11 min.), cast readings of Dylan Thomas poems (8 min.), and a “Gruff in Metropolis” soundtrack featurette (4 min.). Bottom line: a solid extras package for a winning biographical character study.] (M. Sandlin)