Hi Girls! So it's been forever, and I'm really sorry I've been behind on the reading. Unfortunately, many of the titles we picked just are not readily available over here in HK....I will have lots of reading to catch up on!
In reading some of the old posts about films and books- Never Let Me Go being turned into a movie, The Last Lecture going from video to book, etc. I was thinking about my favorite book-to-film adaptations. I'm usually in "the book is better than the movie" camp. But there are a few I think that do a great job in respects of 1) staying true to the story 2) enhancing visually the written descriptions and actions 3) being entertaining 4) I still love the book, and the movie.
What film adaptations do you girls like best? The least? Why?
Of the books we've read together, which one would you like to see turned into a film? What actors and actresses would you cast?
Jenn's Favorites:
1. The Hours: novel by Michael Cunningham. Yes, I read this for NYU Freshman Colloquium. But when I heard that they were making it into a movie, I was really skeptical they could pull it off. But they did, and somehow I think the film works as well as the book.
2. Babe: novel by Dick King-Smith OK, I know it's a children's book and film, but I read the book when I was young, and the movie is just delightful. They didn't ruin it, and that's a big thing for a little girl : )
3. The Color Purple: novel by Alice Walker I remember I read this book in one day, while I was sick in Vietnam with the Tisch scholars, who were out and about enjoying Halong Bay. It kept me company and took my mind off my stomach pains. I also really like the movie.
4. Persepolis: graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi I think the animation in the film is beautiful, and maybe because Marjane had a hand in both the book and the film, I think the movie stays true to the emotional content and touching humor in the graphic novel.
Of the books we've read, I'd like to see The Blind Assasin turned into a film. It would be a rather difficult piece to adapt, but I'd love to see what it would look like visually. Actresses: maybe Michelle Williams as Iris? As for Laura...hmmm
2 comments:
I recently read THE HOURS and definitely want to see the film now. I agree that most of the time, the book is better than the film mostly because of the fact that books can be so much more dense and films have time restrictions. Often, the screenwriters just have to pick the most interesting parts of the book and just develop the film that way. I know that the Harry Potter books had those same problems, but they were still able to make fans of the books happy.
That's probably why I'm so interested in seeing THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE adapted into a film. There's so much going on there. It will be interesting to see how the filmmaker's work that one out.
I'm also curious about MY SISTER'S KEEPER because the director has already said that he's changed the ending from the book. I wonder if that will make people not even want to go see the film.
I don't know if many of you knew about all of the drama surrounding WATCHMEN getting made into a film, but that was definitely one that had a lot of problems to work out. First, it was a graphic novel, so it had a lot of the visual stuff mapped out, but anyone who touched it knew that it would extremely difficult to replicate. Second, the action of the story is all over the place, so someone would really have to know what they were doing. It took so many years and they were finally able to make the film, but people still weren't satisfied with the outcome.
In our next round, we're going to be reading books that have been turned into films. Should be an interesting round....
It should be an interesting round. I do often find that I enjoy the books more than the films that are made out of them. As Tiffany mentioned, it might have to do with the shorter time frame that the director has to work with and the need to focus on the major plot points rather than the more nuance aspects of the books (atmosphere, imagery, etc).
That said, there are some films that I love as much books. The film HOWARD'S END sticks close to the story, yet elevates the drama of the book very nicely. Plus, the actors are really fantastic, particularly Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins – they fit the characters to a tee. Same thing with SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; the film doesn’t change the book that much, but it’s fun to watch all the set pieces and characters come to life on the screen. My other favorite adaptation is BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, which was originally a short story. I thought it was amazing how the movie was able to add new things to story (new locations, characters, etc) yet keep the overall essence of it. Looking forward to the books we pick this round…
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