78 Comments
Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

My Son the Fanatic comes to mind -adapted by Hanif from his own short story. A wonderful film -a beautifully realised family drama & one of the most astonishingly prescient films ever made. This is a prophetic work & a classic British movie. It also shows that it is often short fiction that translates best onto the screen.

By the way, it's Jake Arnott here, sending greetings to Hanif -I love all the stuff you & Carlo are posting on this site. Very inspiring to a fellow writer. Keep going! Much love x

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

I’m going to go with the beautifully made and perfectly cast —- A Room with a View. With an extra thought for the actor Julian Sands who has been missing for more than a month now following a hike up a mountain in CA.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Jaws: endlessly watchable movie made from an absolutely dreck novel.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, Visconti's Il Gattopardo: magnificent adaptations or, I would say, translations of literary masterpieces.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

I think there's something unique about Solaris and it's two adaptations. People get bogged down in the weeds of which one is "better", but I think there's another way of looking at it, which is that the book and both movies are unique retellings of a story so huge that it can't fit in one vessel. Even the Soderberh/Clooney film manages to reveal something that Lem and Tarkovsky did not. For me, this is the goal of any adoration: to make the story feel bigger.

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The English Patient. Although not faithful to the book the changes the script made make the film work so well. It's not often I like a book and then the film as much, especially if there are so many changes. But this just works brilliantly.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Eyes Wide Shut is a wonderful recreation of the Trumnovelle. It's amazing how the transposition to a contemporary scenario enhances the dreamy atmosphere of the novel. The music, the acting , the costumes, the direction, what a marvelous vision.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

John Huston’s brilliant 1987 film adaptation of the James Joyce story, “The Dead.”

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

My favourite recent adaptation is not a film, but the television series of Station 11 had a different tone, and gave new light to many of the main characters, as well as a different ending, which made the adaptation something whole in itself. I enjoyed it more, actually.

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Apocalypse Now is a movie more inspired by than a remake of Heart of Darkness. Both are troubled works of genius.

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The remains of the Day ( Ivory - Ishiguro ) , possibly .

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'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf' - I saw the film adaptation with Burton and Taylor as a young teen and was blown away and then upon the recommendation from an actor I know I read the play by Edward Albee a few years ago. Outstanding, both.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

My current favourite is Women Talking, from the book by Miriam Toews. The story deals with real events involving a Bolivian Mennonite community where women and children have been systematically abused. The story focuses on the discussion by a committee of the women about what to do. It is a brilliant interpretation of the book, beautifully filmed with outstanding performances. You will not be able to get this out of your mind.

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Fidelity to an original is a very bad measure of value for any creative work, be the original a novel or be it “reality.” Every adaptation is a creative work, and when barthes/foucault taught the Death of the Author, another way to have framed it was “everything is adaptation,” which means, every author builds on the discourses and works that she read before being able to write. So, an adaptation i loved is Karmen Gei by jo ramaka. I loved also Carmen Jones, and the great great south african adaptation of Carmen, U-Carmen ekhayelitsha. Not to forget that Carmen itself is an adaptation of the merimee novella.

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Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

A Dance To The Music Of Time, condensed 12 volumes into four TV episodes. Simon Russell Beale’s portrayal of Widmerpool, from awkward

teenage misfit to pillar of the community was a triumph. The reader/viewer can only follow his seemingly arrogant progress with growing astonishment.

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Feb 24, 2023·edited Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

I love both Lean's Zhivago and Jackie Brown. Adaptations seem to need visionary directors who can make a mediocre book into something great,(think Hitchcock) yet really amazing books, all the Bronte, Austen, Shakespeare, Highsmith adaptations are also 'visionary' but don't compete with the text..the director, cast and screenwriters seem to translate their own experience of reading in the casting and character development, so they're less adaptations, more like riffs on a theme

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Armando Iannucci’s recent adaptation of David Copperfield. Which ends up being an ode to adaptation itself. Full of affection, self-sending up, & with other Dickens characters shouldering their way in. A masterpiece.

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The Vanishing, the French version not the American remake. Such a powerful film. A young couple on a vacation drive in the south of France stop for gas . She goes to restroom while he waits outside relaxing on the grass. She never returns. The movie shows his search. Every year he returns and hangs posters . The ending is terrifying

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The TV adaption of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels was wonderful, the casting was perfect.

Sophie’s Choice was great and I loved The Buddha of Suburbia.

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I believe the Brian DePalma movie version of Stephen King's Carrie is superior to the novel. I think people forget that the novel is very literary with multiple storytelling devices—newspaper articles, interviews, different points of movie. King still uses those literary devices in his work but in a more streamlined way. Carrie is a great book, a startling introduction, but its narrative throughline is very different and slower than the movie's pace.

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David Lean’s magnificent 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations basically stays true to Dickens’ narrative; Lean films it as a Dickens Noir, dark, frightening, moving, and at times unnerving. Visually powerful and psychologically affecting, many of the scenes get embedded in the viewer’s psyche permanently.

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Film wise - ‘Don’t look now ‘ a short story by Daphne Du Maurier- it made me jump and shocked me so much when I first read it - I really connected with the story due to the loss of a child which of course underlines the whole story - she was unique I think in the strangeness the psychology of her characters - they all hovered on taboo or crossed it. Thought the film captured all of that / the sisters particularly.

My other thought is for another ‘strange’ story by Susanna Clarke called ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell / once more a story I really connected with and had high hopes when it was dramatised on tv - was it a success? Yes! To my amazement the enchantment and magic were captured on screen. But you have set me off now - bet I come up with many more - ps I reckon The Godfather films surpassed and transformed the books (or was it book?) thank you for such an interesting question pps hope Hanif not gone mad yet and is catching up with his bodily functions which he has described fully - he is so direct! A good quality that.

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Feb 24, 2023·edited Feb 24, 2023

"He reads, he reads everything" - Cliff Robertson as Higgens, CIA

My favorite example of this, movie better than the book, is _Three Days of the Condor (1975)_, Pollack & Redford flick, based on the book, _Six Days of the Condor (1974)_ by James Grady (no relation).

Here the narrative compression works, less three 3 days even. In the book Condor is lucky and stumbling. In the movie he is an arm chair intellectual, when pushed from his chair he is a force to be dealt with. It is tighter with great actors in almost all roles, in particular Max Von Sydow as the assassin Joubert, that add depth to the otherwise pulpy characters.

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Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019) is my favourite - the faith in the audience she has in her story telling us rarely seen in cinema today. Her thematic progression through the film, instead of the traditional chronological order that other Little Women adaptations have, really sets it apart and makes the narrative a new lens.

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The Sheltering Sky

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Hitchcock in Truffaut interviews interesting on adaptation, never adapting a story already told in its perfect medium. Tells you what he thought of Du Maurier

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There are many good adaptations, but the one that springs to mind being superior to the source novel, is The Painted Veil (2006)

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A recent example that really impressed me was Mayflies. I so loved the book by Andrew O'Hagan that I was almost afraid to watch the two part TV version that aired just after Christmas. When I finally decided to watch it I thought it was brilliantly done. Instead of working through the first half of the book, the TV version was set in the second half and picked up on the past through flashbacks. The whole programme worked so much better I suspect than had they simply followed the book.

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Stanley Kubrick's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest based on a novel by Milos Forman. Just brilliant.

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Howard's End and The Name of the Rose ( the version with Sean Connery in it , not the recent re-make).What makes these adaptations successful? Fantastic acting and actors( Anthony Hopkins was sublime in his role as surpressed Victorian gentleman) plus the locations and scenery plus costumes were just completely right.

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Jane Campion’s, The Power of the Dog, was exquisitely faithful to Thomas Savages’ brilliant novel ... it’s the only example for me, where the film doesn’t in any way smother, alter or elide the book.

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I adored the thrilling plot and theological ideas developed in The Name of the Rose by Umberto in 1980. Its adaptation by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 1986 remains one of my favourite films - retaining the essence of the novel, with a brilliant cast. Sean Connery stars as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, called upon to solve the mysterious serial murders of monks’ in the beautifully filmed medieval and frozen abbey. Christian Slater portrays his young apprentice, Adso of Melk, and F. Murray Abraham the cruel Inquisitor rival, Bernardo Gui. Michael Lonsdale plays the Benedictine abbot. The monks in the abbey are fantastic especially Ron Perlman as Salvatore, the monstrous looking and simple minded monk accused of heresy. Great stuff!

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Trainspotting, American Splendour, No Country For Old Men, Clockwork Orange, High Fidelity, are some of my favorites.

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I love My Son the Fanatic and let's not forget The Buddha of Suburbia.

Other favorites:

the Frears Dangerous Liaisons

Howards End

Brokeback Mountain

The Maltese Falcon

Witness for the Prosecution

Rebecca

Where is the Friend's Home

Casablanca

Barry Lyndon

Apocalypse Now

The Birds

The 39 Steps

Casablanca

Morvern Callar

Double Indemnity

A Streetcar Named Desire

Cabaret

Kes

Trainspotting

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Goodfellas

The Remains of the Day

No Country for Old Men

Philadelphia Story

The Remains of the Day

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Max Allen Collins is probably best know for 'Road To Perdition' – a graphic novel that was later adapted into a film, starring Tom Hanks. It was nominated for six Oscars, winning one for Best Cinematography.

''Quarry' was a short-lived TV drama, based on an ongoing series of books written by Collins. The most recent of these – 'Quarry's Blood' came out last year. The show is set in 1972, during a period of social upheaval and spiralling racial tension in the US. Mac Conway returns to Memphis from the war in Vietnam, where he has been implicated in a massacre of unarmed Vietnamese villagers. Back on home soil he is a pariah. His war crimes and flare-ups of PTSD make it impossible for him to find, or hold down, a job. Adding to his problems, his favourite Otis Redding album (Otis Blue, of course) has gone missing and he suspects that his wife, Joni, may have had an affair during his absence.

Mac ends up in debt, to the tune of $30,000, to a man who is referred to as the Broker. Taken at face value, the Broker is the kind of blazer-wearing, middle-aged, Southern gentleman who you might find sitting out on the verandah of any dixie state country club. The more you see of him, the harder he is to pin down. He is man who is very skilled at disguising his motives. Mac ends up working off his debt, a few grand at a time, by carrying out assassinations. Some of these murders directly benefit Mac, though he is often unaware of this until later. Some seem to be aimed at correcting social injustices (one episode focuses on the racial desegregation of Memphis schools and the predictable reaction that ensues). With some of the killings, the motives are murkier or serve some dual purpose.

Orbiting the Broker are a loose-knit group of individuals - a sarcastic Asian man named Karl who appears to function as a bodyguard, a struggling black musician, a native American women... The most interesting of these is Buddy – a openly gay man who lives with mother, Naomi (played superbly by Ann Dowd) with whom he shares a close relationship. Their scenes together are one of the unexpected highlights of the series. I could have happily watched a show that was just Buddy and Naomi talking to each other.

The layering of storylines, the foreshadowing, the idiosyncratic cinematography, braid together into something that is really quite unique. There is a slow-speed car chase across rough ground that is shot mostly from inside one of the vehicles. It's not a slickly-edited, James Bond-style affair. It's clumsy. The drivers struggle against their cars' wallowing suspension. You feel the collisions. A puddle of dirty water inundates the windscreen. For a second or two, you can't see anything.

In one episode, set in a motel, a slowly-draining outdoor pool functions as an hourglass, ticking away the second towards some unavoidable confrontation. In the same episode, a fraction of a scene plays out as a reflection in a window. The first time I saw it, I was so impressed I paused the DVD and rewound so that I could watch it again.

You get to know the characters very well. One humanising moment finds Mac and Joni drunk and high. Joni is reduced to fits of giggle after she remembers how they used to refer to themselves collectively as “Macajoni and cheese.”

Music plays a huge role in the show. The aforementioned 'Otis Blue' album does some heavy lifting as a plot point. The début album by Memphis band Big Star receives several mentions. There are moments when a scene will be dominated by a live performance – a group of teenagers performing a decent cover of Todd Rundgren's 'I Saw the Light'.

The only thing I found jarring was the use of a location that had previously appeared in an episode of 'True Detective'. Viewers of season one of that show may be surprised to see Carcosa recast as the ruins of a colonial fort, deep in the Vietnamese jungle.

Quarry ran for eight episodes. I genuinely thought that it was going to be the show that everybody who loved 'Breaking Bad' would grab on to. I thought it was going to be massive. Sadly it got caught up the re-branding of the Cinemax channel and was quietly axed. It was still a cult drama – a word of mouth thing. It probably needed another season to get its feet down and build an audience. A show hasn't been cancelled this prematurely since 'My So-Called Life'.

Despite leaving many potential plot threads unexploited, what there is of 'Quarry' is pleasingly cyclical and a satisfying as a story in its own right. The pay-offs for both Mac and the Broker are really good.

The Quarry novels were also strongly referenced in a comic series titled '100 Bullets' (which ran for 100 issues) to the point where, if Collins didn't tap writer Brian Azzarello on the shoulder with legal papers, then he was being exceedingly generous. I like '100 Bullets', but of the two, 'Quarry' felt more down to earth.

If, like me, you watch the show and are inspired by the Broker to try putting a stick of butter in your black coffee, my strong advice is that you don't do this. It is nowhere near as good as it sounds.

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I just watched The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) based almost completely on the novella Forster by Claire Keegan. It is exceptionally well done.

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One big favorite is The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I read the book first (fabulous!) but the movie is even better, IMHO. Watch this!

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Feb 24, 2023·edited Feb 27, 2023

Not a film but a limited TV series: The Queen's Gambit. Brilliant adaptation of an excellent novel by Walter Tevis, transforming the book's long chess stretches into an elite competitive sport. Also, Friedkin's Sorcerer, one of my all-time favorite movies, is based on George Arnaud's novel, and reimagines it as a psychological horror film of the highest order.

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The clear winner is Darabont's adaptation of King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption". A brilliant exploration into an impossible character. And an ending that leaves us both riveted and unclear. Does he make it to Zihuatanejo? Do they ever meet again?

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founding

Speaking about a recent film: 'Room', the novel by Emma Donoghue, adapted by the writer herself.

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All three seasons if „His dark Material“!!

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Harold Pinter's screenplay for Jack Clayton's film The Pumpkin Eater improves on Penelope Mortimer's source novel, imo. I read the novel before seeing the film, and very little in it (in fact, nothing) has stayed with me; but the film made an indelible impression. The non-linear structure is so well-handled that you never forget where you are and Pinter invents several memorable scenes that (I) don't (think) have counterparts in the novel - particularly the one featuring Yootha Joyce as a scary salon customer.

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The Owl Service tv show was awful but how not to love

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"Fabian: Going to the Dogs", Dominik Graf´s adaption von Erich Kästner´s book. (2021)

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Thank you for posing this question Carlo.

Has anyone ever seen Three Rooms in Manhattan? Based on a Simenon novel it stars two French legends, Maurice Ronet and Annie Giradeux. And there is even Robert DeNiro doing his first extra work! A piece of trivia you must know! Try to find him in one of the restaurant scenes. The book is a great read but typically quite bare bones. Marcel Carne brings the romantic dreamlike tale to life fantastically.

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I just love the 1995 movie of Persuasion. Holds up very well.

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French Lieutenant’s Woman

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Jane Campion's recent adaptation of Thomas Savage's "The Power of the Dog". The rare occurrence of the perfect film - and I mean, perfect in every respect, direction, dramaturgy, cinematography, acting, music, you name it - based on the (seemingly) non-adaptable book. I love the book and I was somewhat anxious as to the possibility of - particularly - conveying the deep ambiguity of the main character and creating an adequate solution to the riddle at the very end. The solution that the novel provides exactly in the last sentence...

The lead of Campion's film, Benedict Cumberbatch, also appears in Patrick Melrose, a TV serialisation of Edward St Aubyn's biographical novels, directed by Edward Berger. Underrated and not known largely enough. I hope that now, due to Berger's success with the adaptation of Remarque (also impressive), more people will find this incredibly well-written and beautifully directed (and played by all involved) piece of television art.

I think both Campion's and Berger's works are a testament to the deep understanding of the complicated literary material and enormous attention to detail being the key to the convincing adaptation.

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We have all forgotten The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), the sumptuous adaptation by Visconti.

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Luchino Visconti did a wonderful job with Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice. The beauty of the cinematography , the haunting use of Mahler and Dirk Bogarde’s performance all pitch in to create a work that rivals it’s source material.

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