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Post by coolclearwaters on Mar 16, 2017 1:55:56 GMT
There are a lot of ways they can make it clear what happened without showing it.
I'm glad to hear they may be casting for A Child In Time. Have you had a chance to read it yet? I'm interested in finding out what you think.
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Post by mllemass on Mar 16, 2017 2:10:12 GMT
I don't know why I didn't realize who David Nicholls was until now! He wrote One Day, a book that I loved so much that I forced people to read it. Unfortunately, he also adapted it for the movie, which was terrible. I don't really blame him for the movie, though. I blame whoever hired Anne Hathaway to be in it.
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 16, 2017 2:13:51 GMT
Yes, I read it! I'm actually reading Patrick Melrose novels now. I'm on the third one!
I think it's great. I'm a Ian McEwan fan so I admired his prose even before beginning with the book. The scene of the disappearance is very unsettling and the rest of the book is a long sad meditation about childhood lost and about re-learning to be an adult again. It would be interesting to know who would play the editor. The main plot twist is on his character and it's a typical twisted Ian McEwan character!
I'm also loving the Melrose books.
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Post by coolclearwaters on Mar 16, 2017 2:47:25 GMT
I admit, I was taken aback by the disappearance scene in TCIT. The book has some fantastic elements, so I'm not sure how literally I should take it, but the logistics of that kidnapping are not possible. I'll just have to employ a prodigious suspension of disbelief. I do think it will make a powerful movie with an intense part for Benedict. There should be actors clamoring to play the editor! What did you think of the sex scene at the end? I don't have children and I had never heard of couples having sex during labor. You learn something new every day! LOL! I wonder if they'll include that in the film? I love the Patrick Melrose novels. They're absolutely brilliant - arguably some of the best literature I've read in years.
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 16, 2017 3:28:26 GMT
I remember your review that's why I warned I'm a McEwan fan beforehand. I found the scene of the disappearing credible. I'm sure we could find some or a lot of implausibilities there but I'm also think that is the case with a lot of real life disappearings. I remember at least two local cases with kids disappearing from safe places in impossible situations reported in the press: a little boy who was in an open place with apparently no one apart of his family near to him went missing a few years ago and a little girl who was sleeping in a bed beside her parents who was kidnapped there and sadly later murdered by a stranger who just entered the house, which was full of people in a family reunion, and took the child from the bed! And of course there are the famous cases like Madelaine McCann and the beauty queen girl from the USA. I don't know but I think probably those incredible cases are the most unforgettable because, apart of the tragedy itself, it's difficult to understand how those things happened and the easy way they do. I think that's why I personally didn't questioned too much the scene and thought it was horrific, because I have read very incredible cases in real life.
About te other scene, McEwan was very "eccentric" with the sex scenes in his early books so I guess I wasn't very shocked with it! Believe me there are weirded sex scenes in his work!
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Post by coolclearwaters on Mar 16, 2017 3:54:07 GMT
I know there are cases where children disappear under strange circumstances, but I just didn't find this one believable. If she had been somewhere else in the store ...but the checkout line? With other customers and the cashier around? And he only looked away for about 30 seconds? And no one saw anything?No. I assume that McEwan wanted it to seem as though she had almost evaporated - like magic - and that the father couldn't be blamed in any way. I'll just have to try to think of it as mystical in some way.
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Post by onebluestocking on Mar 16, 2017 6:01:55 GMT
I haven't read it, but having a very active and independent 5 YO with zero fear of strangers, I can easily see a child disappearance happening just like that! Obviously not a stranger carrying the child off right then, but the child vanishing from sight and getting too far away in minutes. I worry every time I'm in a busy store/mall/playground with him.
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 17, 2017 13:03:37 GMT
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 19, 2017 4:06:17 GMT
I'm finishing the books and they are great! As with all quality literature I think it's not an easy task to adapt them (the same with The Child of Time). Bad books are much easier! I hope David Nicholls do a good job and that they can get a director with enough vision to portray all those internal monologues and fine verbosity.
Apparently one of the books, Mother's Milk was adapted a few years ago with Adrian Dumbar, who played BC's father in The Hollow Crown, playing the nefarious cult leader Seamus. Have anyone watched it? St. Aubyn himself wrote the script.
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Post by coolclearwaters on Mar 19, 2017 4:58:25 GMT
It's so true that bad or mediocre novels are sometimes easier to adapt. I think people feel less attached to the originals and directors sometimes feel free to completely change things up. Hitchcock was famous for doing this. I read the novella Don't Look Now recently and the movie was so much better. I'm not saying the book was bad, just that the changes the director made improved the story dramatically.
The interior monologues in the Melrose novels will be a challenge. Maybe Patrick can express some of his thoughts to another character. On the other hand, Benedict can probably convey most of it through his acting. In some ways, all the snappy reparte will be a dream to film.
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