There are so many films out there that have been adapted from books. More than I ever realised! A great book doesn't always make a great film but sometimes these two industries merge well together. Here is a selection of the films I think have made great adaptations and my thoughts on the relationship between them and their original books.
Enjoy x
Battle Royale: One of my favourite books and subsequent film. This novel succeeded in keeping my attention and thrilling me all the way through and creates a mixture of horror, sadness, love and suspense. Centred around a futuristic Japan in a time of autocracy, students are sent to an island and forced to fight to the death, a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century if you will. The film followed the story quite honestly, capturing the essence of what Koushun Takami was trying to achieve; the idea that such a world is not too far fetched from our current reality. There has been a sequel movie that picks up where the book finished and for a sequel, it is fairly decent but nothing beats the main, first movie for me.
- The Pianist: One of the most moving films you will ever see and the book parallels that same raw emotion. I have great respect for what Roman Polanski acheived with this film; most definitely doing justice to Wladyslaw Szpilman's experience as a Polish Jew trying to survive in Nazi occupied Warsaw. The book and the film both make me cry and capture some of the horror of the time, well, as much as can be captured in media forms of such a traumatic experience.
- PS I Love You: I saw the film before I read the book and was surprised at how different the two forms were from one another, yet still both really great! Normally, when a film strays far from the book it really annoys me. Now I know films are adaptations of novels and so can change details to suit what will work best for the story and a film audience, but it feels like Hollywood are trying to rip off an author's hard work and destroy what was once such a good premise! But as I said, in this case, the differing stories really do work. Written by Cecilia Ahern and set in Dublin, the novel is the story of a young widow and her experience trying to rebuild her life with the help of letters from her dead husband (not as creepy as it sounds, actually very touching!). The film is set in New York and Cork and gives the story American characters instead of Irish (for the most part). Now what's wrong with keeping it in Dublin?! Well, most likely because Americans would probably struggle to understand the cast despite most of the New York population being of Irish descent. However, the Trans-Atlantic angle works just as beautifully and it features one of my favourite people...Gerard Butler, I mean that's all you really need!
