Jul 26 2008
Literature Worth Watching
Many readers I know won’t even watch a movie based on a book because the results are so often disappointing. I wouldn’t try to dissuade anyone from that position, because it’s a pretty safe one. Most often, though, it’s the “blockbuster” films that butcher the books best, because big bucks are the motivation, not great art or true translation (some scary alliteration, there, no?) Some recent conversations have brought to mind good books that also became good independent films, one, in fact–horror of horrors, and most will probably disagree with me–that I liked better than the book.
What finally spurred me to write this post was watching Bee Season yesterday. The film stars Richard Gere and Juliet Binoche in roles not typical of the ones they are usually cast in. Gere is a nondescript, detached father, Binoche a quiet, unobtrusively disturbed mother. Their young daughter becomes a contender for the national spelling bee prize and the family begins to unravel. The book of the same title by Myla Goldberg came out around 2000, I think.
I loved White Oleander the first time I read it. I have worked with teens who have survived abuse and addiction and homelessness, and I thought Janet Fitch did an amazing job nailing the rollercoaster of emotions that go along with that life, especially never losing the hope Mom or Dad will change, that the system will be fair, that this foster family will be different. Never losing hope, even though every ounce of common sense tells you that things will continue to suck, because otherwise they’d all become thugs or suicides, and why not? The movie based on the book came out much later. At the time, I was reviewing films for our NPR affiliate, and I briefly considered rereading the book before seeing the film, before recognizing the folly in that. Whew! Dodged that bullet! With only foggy memories of the plotline, I really liked the film. The casting choices were a little off, even through the mist, but the movie held its own. Afterward–which is always when you should read the book, of course, to embellish an experience that you already enjoyed–when I reread the novel, it wasn’t the canny understanding of emotions that struck me first, but the poetic writing. I also love the magical suitcases that Astrid creates. I always have so many new books yet to be read, that I forget what can be gained from a second reading. A quick, related note: Janet Fitch has published only one book since then, Paint It Black. It’s horrible. I had a friend who refused to waste her time finishing it, and I was determined to complete it and prove her wrong. She wasn’t. It was as if these two books were written pre- and post-lobotomy. Seriously.
The last two I have in mind are from author John Irving, no stranger to film. I read most of his early books when I was in high school, and, for the most part, lost my taste for them later on, which means nothing here nor there. One of those older books was The Cider House Rules. When the theatrical version of The Cider House Rules was released I was, again, reviewing for radio, and what was really interesting to me at the time was an interview with Irving, who wrote the screenplay himself, and edited his own book down to what he considered a the essential story. Hunh. That can’t be easy, ’cause that was not a short book. I liked the movie a lot. The cast was good, it was a fun story, and the production was solid. A few weeks (months?) later I went back and read the book. Wow. First, hated the book. Just went on and on and on and on. Over here, over there, I don’t care, I don’t care. However, that said, John Irving? That man can self-edit! Who knows, maybe he secretly felt the same way about the story that I did, and finally had the chance to be given a re-do. Or not. So, yes, the first film in memory that I actually liked more than the book.
Last in this series of book/movie thought was The Door in the Floor, a film starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger, based on the novel A Widow for One Year, by John Irving. Widow was the first of Irving’s books I’d read in years. Initially, it probably got my attention because I’m a sucker for books about writers. The film didn’t get much attention, but it did get good reviews. Jeff Bridges plays the writer who invites a young (male) student to come stay at the beach house with his family for the summer and act as his assistant. The unsuspecting young man gets pulled into the already dysfunctional crumbling marriage before he has a chance to see it coming. This also fits into my Films I Love About Writers catagory that will no doubt make an appearance at some later date.
Coming up next: Bi-polar disorder, real and imagined
