There are many good screenplays out there that are taken to the market by their creators and that wait to be picked up. Then there are bestselling novels that see their rights chased down by directors, producers and even actors, to be adapted to screen. Some say the movie versions are never as good as the books. I say there is still something special about seeing a piece of literature translated visually. Pulling off a film adaptation is a considerable feat. It is probably easier to just take on an original screenplay, but it is a challenge that still draws many filmmakers from all across the world.
Mr. Pip
A cinematically beautiful film, Mr. Pip was filmed in Papua New Guinea, where its story is set. This Man Booker Prize Shortlist novel by New Zealander Lloyd Jones was adapted to film by fellow countryman Andrew Adamson. He was drawn to it after reading the book on a plane, and said the film adaptation is “a story about a story. It is about the power of story.” Hugh Laurie stars as a melancholic Mr. Pip, the last Englishman on Bougainville during its civil war. He takes on teaching at the local school, and decides to do so by reading Dicken’s Great Expectations to the school children. Laurie’s deadpan sadness gives way to great animation when he has to bring the reading to life. One of the children, Matilda, is deeply enthralled by the story, but this spells trouble when fiction gets mixed up with fact against the backdrop of a dangerous civil war.
Dark Places
Charlize Theron takes on another role as a poverty stricken woman in Middle American in the adaptation of this novel by Gone Girl author, Gillian Flynn. Nicholas Hoult plays a self-proclaimed true crime detective who offers Theron’s character some facts that have been uncovered about the massacre of her family, even though she testified that her satan-worshipping brother was responsible when she was a child. The film shuttles between Theron’s struggles in the present day as well as flashbacks that slowly and painfully reveal what really happened 25 years before. While not quite as marvelous as Gone Girl, fans of the suspense thriller genre might still enjoy the twists, turns and darkness offered here.
White Bird In A Blizzard
This adaptation of the Laura Kasischke novel stars Shailene Woodley as Katrina Connors. At 17 years of age, she experiences her sexual awakening the same year as her mother, Eve (Eva Green), mysteriously disappears, leaving her with a brooding, avoidant father (Christopher Meloni). Katrina cheats on her boyfriend with the older detective investigating her mother’s disappearance before pieces of the case slowly fall into place. The revelations are seen from a teenager’s point of view – an age known for random attention spans. This thriller deviates from the usual handling of its genre as it is concurrently a coming-of-age movie.
The Company You Keep
Sometimes all you need is for a star to believe in a book and breathe life to it. Robert Redford produces, directs and stars as Jim Grant, a man living with a hidden identity along with his 11-year-old daughter. He is wanted for a robbery and was once part of a militant group in this adaptation of the Neil Gordon novel. One of his ex-co-conspirators, played by Susan Sarandon, is arrested and Shia LaBeouf plays the hungry reporter chasing the story down, eventually uncovering Grant’s identity. This sparks a chain of complex events that divulge Grant’s history, a cast of many other characters from his past and his militant group - all performed by fellow stellar actors – all while he is trying to clear his name.
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
Standing out from the above films, most of which contain action or thrills, this adaptation of Ayelet Waldman’s novel is carried brilliantly by Natalie Portman. In the movie (also known as The Other Woman), Portman plays Emilia, the woman in question, who helps break up her boss’ marriage. The process is mostly romance of the anguished type, yet full of promises of new beginnings. She marries the man (Scott Cohen), takes on the responsibility of stepmother to his son, William, and gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. But then the baby dies. Emilia has to move on and deal with the tasks ahead of her, still wearing the fresh tag of the other woman in her husband’s life, still dealing with the upset ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow) and most of all, still learning how to live with William, who challenges her constantly. Yet it is the development of her relationship with William that helps Emilia to eventually evolve, and that is most gratifying to watch.
