My Salinger Year

My Salinger Year (also known as My New York Year) is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based upon the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff. It stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seána Kerslake, Colm Feore and Brían F. O'Byrne. The film had its world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 20, 2020. It was released in Canada and the United States on March 5, 2021, by Mongrel Media and IFC Films, respectively, and in Ireland on May 21, 2021, by Vertigo Releasing. Plot In 1995, Joanna, an aspiring writer and poet, leaves Berkeley, California, as well as her boyfriend, Karl, and moves to New York City, where she takes a job at one of New York's oldest literary agencies, run by Margaret. Unbeknownst to Joanna, the agency looks after the interests of the notoriously reclusive writer J. D. Salinger. She has not read any of Salinger's books, not even The Catcher in the Rye. She moves into an apartment with a new boyfriend, Don. Margaret does not believe that computers are helpful and makes Joanna type letters for her using a typewriter. In her time at the agency, Joanna's responsibilities include responding to the large volume of fan mail that Salinger is sent. As was agency policy, Joanna responds with a generic response that explained that Salinger did not read fan mail. However, she is tempted to give a proper reply to some of Salinger's fans. Her period at the agency coincides with Salinger's proposed publication of the short story "Hapworth 16, 1924", which had previously been published in The New Yorker. She helps liaise with the small publisher and goes to Georgetown University for a meeting between Salinger and the publisher, which coincides with a concert that Karl, her old boyfriend, is performing in Washington, D.C. Margaret starts to trust Joanna more and lets her read some manuscripts and articles. Don and Joanna are invited to the wedding of Don's best friend, but Don does not initially tell Joanna as he wants to go on his own. While Don is away, Joanna decides to leave him and move out. Joanna sells her first book for the agency and is offered a bigger role at the agency. However, she wants to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and quits.