I wonder why filmmakers feel the need to tackle unfilmable books.
If they didn't, we wouldn't have Tristram Shandy and that would be a real shame.
I'm eleven hundred and twenty years old! Just gimme a friggin' beer!
Anya ,'Storyteller'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
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Jessica - Apr 20, 2011 6:38:48 am PDT #14141 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Laga - Apr 20, 2011 6:39:35 am PDT #14142 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I wonder if French cinema's love of the voiceover comes from a desire to capture the beauty of prose. Maybe it's not just exposition. (Is it annoying to discuss these sorts of things with someone who's never had a film class?)
Laga - Apr 20, 2011 6:41:42 am PDT #14143 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
Oh my goodness Tristram Shandy is such a great movie. And I find myself thinking parts of Infinite Jest would look really amazing on screen.
I didn't think Crash was a great movie.
Jessica - Apr 20, 2011 6:43:15 am PDT #14144 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
OTOH, we also wouldn't have Adaptation, so it can cut both ways...
lisah - Apr 20, 2011 6:46:02 am PDT #14145 of 30000
Punishingly Intricate
I had a film professor declare that there has never been a great film made from a great book. Great films are all made from mediocre books and all adaptations of great books are mediocre (or worse) films.
Jessica - Apr 20, 2011 6:47:45 am PDT #14146 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I had a film professor declare that there has never been a great film made from a great book.
Spoken like someone who has never read The Princess Bride.
[eta: There's another one tickling the back of my mind. Something fairly recent where massive sweeping changes were made but both versions worked exquisitely for their respective media. Not LotR, though that would also qualify. Damn it, this is going to drive me crazy.]
DavidS - Apr 20, 2011 6:48:48 am PDT #14147 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Spoken like someone who has never read The Princess Bride.
In fairness, a very rare instance of a novel written by a great screenwriter, who then wrote the screenplay.
§ ita § - Apr 20, 2011 6:50:20 am PDT #14148 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
In fairness, a very rare instance of a novel written by a great screenwriter, who then wrote the screenplay.
No fairness applies. If you say it can't be done, then it can't be done.
DavidS - Apr 20, 2011 6:53:51 am PDT #14149 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
No fairness applies. If you say it can't be done, then it can't be done.
I applied the fairness standard, and qualified it with "very rare." So, not-never, but hardly-ever.
But I really don't believe in that dictum. I just think it's easier to adapt a short story or novella to a film - it's a matter of narrative length really. You can make a great miniseries out of a novel (Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz). Or a great series of movies (cf., LotR).
le nubian - Apr 20, 2011 6:57:20 am PDT #14150 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
I wonder what "great" means. For example, the 3rd Harry Potter book is one I liked as a novel, but the film version was FABULOUS. Incredibly evocative of the book. They left some things out, but kept all of the right elements in.
If all the adaptations of the HP books had been that good, I would not be complaining (esp with book 6, how dreadful).