Posts Tagged "cannes-ed goods"
CANNES-ed Goods: Top Shelf Tuesday
Yep, that’s my husband, posing with Return co-producers Meredith Viera, Amy Rapp, and star Louisa Krause. I’m just back from the film’s premiere at the Cannes film festival, one of the more decidedly glamorous moments of my life. What an experience!
I’d seen an earlier, very rough version of the film some months ago, but I wasn’t prepared for how utterly potent and moving the final cut would be. In the editing process, writer/director Liza Johnson managed to elevate her passion project to an entirely new level. Which, to me, underscored the point: revision is revision. Art is art.
That said, film and fiction are obviously entirely separate mediums. A good book does not always a good movie make. So, in honor of my husband’s latest triumph, I thought I’d pay tribute to some of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations.
1. The Shining. Few have had success translating Stephen King’s work to screen, but in Kubrick’s hands, a straightforward haunting story becomes stylish, iconic, and every bit as shudder-inducing as its literary inspiration.
2. A Clockwork Orange. Is it coincidence that this is yet another Kubrick masterpiece? Methinks not.
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Okay, fine. Maybe I have a thing for Jack Nicholson. And Ken Kesey.
4. The World According to Garp. It’s not a perfect movie, but it does perfectly capture the whimsy, quirk, and resonance of Irving’s novel.
5. Clueless. Confession: I’ve never been big on the Brontes. But holy LOL to Amy Heckerling’s ode to Emma. I dare you to resist the charms of one Cher Horowitz.
Of course, I’m barely scratching the surface, here. So tell me – which flicks would make YOUR list?
(CANNES-ed Goods) Waiting on Wednesday: RETURN, the movie!
Because, of course, that’s what you’re eagerly awaiting this fine Wednesday, amiright? Me, too!
Mr. N departed for Cannes yesterday, and I’ll be joining him as of Friday, just in time for the weekend premiere of Return! Whatever will I wear?!
I’ve seen a very early cut of the film, and was even lucky enough to spend a day behind the scenes, watching some filming, but there’s nothing quite like the first time the movie is projected out there, for public consumption.
(It’s also fun to have a chance to get dressed up and play at being a Hollywood celebutante, even for just a night.)
Here’s a bit about the movie:
Back from a tour of duty, Kelli can’t wait to rejoin her old life in the rust belt town she’s always lived in. She’s ready to experience the old feelings of everyday life- the carpet under her bare feet, a cold beer in front of the television, the smell of her baby’s head. Slowly, though, she realizes that her everyday life doesn’t resemble the one she left. Struggling to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes, what can she reclaim of her share of the way of life she’s been fighting to protect?
If you don’t know Linda Cardellini, you’re in for a treat. The woman can communicate about fifty different emotions with the slightest twitch of her eyebrow.
(Also? If you don’t know Linda, then you must not know “Freaks and Geeks,” which is a wild oversight that I urge you to remedy, pronto.)
The film also stars heavyweights Michael Shannon, and John Slattery (in a supporting role wildly against his “Mad Men” type). All in all, a stellar cast, a thoughtful premise, and a nuanced, poignant script.
Lest you think that I’m biased, here’s a link to indiewire magazine’s “Top 20 Films We Can’t Wait to See in Cannes.”
Big props to the cast and crew of of the flick — see you on the Riviera, shortly!
CANNES-ED Goods: Monday Muse
In honor of Noah’s movie, Return, debuting at the Cannes Film Festival this week, today’s Monday Muse comes from one of my very favorite book-to-movies, Stand By Me (based on the novella, “The Body,” by Stephen King). Stellar works, the both of ‘em.
“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?”
In the movie that line was changed to, “Jesus, does anyone?” It was also upgraded to the very last line of the screenplay. I’m not sure it’s the most poignant line in the entire piece, but to me, it encapsulates the vivid urgency of (pre)adolescence. There’s something about the memories we form at that formative age that cut to the bone and follow us sharply. At that age, every emotion simmers just beneath the surface.
And writing — and reading — YA is, to my mind, the best way to access that intensity, again and again.