Netflix Picks Up A Series of Unfortunate Events for Adaptation

Lemony Snicket's popular book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, was adapted into a film in 2004, starring Jim Carrey. It received decent reviews and did well in the box office (making $209 million worldwide), however was criticized for "not staying faithful to the source material's edgier bits."

Netflix recently picked up the rights for the series to adapt into a full series. Because it will be a television show rather than a film, Netflix can follow each story line more closely and completely. It also doesn't have to worry about MPAA ratings, so it will be able to provide the "edgier bits" that were missing from the film adaptation.

Vice President of original content at Netflix, Cindy Holland, said, "The world created by Lemony Snicket is unique, darkly funny and relatable. We can't wait to bring it to life for Netflix members."

When Snicket (novelist Daniel Handler's pen name) himself heard about this, he said, "I can't believe it. After years of providing top-quality entertainment on demand, Netflix is risking its reputation and its success by associating itself with my dismaying and upsetting books." This is a continuation of the marketing ploy that he's used for the series ever since the first book was published. The back cover says, "I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant."

The story follows three siblings who are orphaned after their parents are killed in a fire that burns their home. Their evil Uncle Olaf knows that Violet, the eldest daughter, will inherit the family's fortune once she turns 18, so he creates tries several schemes to try to steal the money.

Being a huge fan of the series and also of all things Netflix, I cannot wait to see what they do with their adaptation.

'The Body' to 'Stand By Me': An Intermediate Film Adaptation

Rob Reiner achieves an intermediate film adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, “The Body” with his film 'Stand By Me' by remaining fairly close to the fabula, but leaving out elements essential to the meaning and themes of the original story. One of these elements is the junkyard scene. The junkyard is symbolic for the fall of the American dream, a powerful symbol setting up the social commentary that is evident throughout the novella. The junkyard is full of thrown away household items, such as beds and a doll that appears to be “giving birth to her own stuffing.” This is King attacking American society and the fragility of the American dream. Reiner abandons King’s social commentary in this scene by filling the junkyard with cars, stripping the story of its deeper, original meaning. Because of this, Reiner’s adaptation cannot be a close one.

Rob Reiner also alters the endings of Vern and Teddy. The novella takes on a dark tone as Gordie, as the speaker, tells his reader that Vern and Teddy lead a gang, Vern died in a fire after a house party, and Teddy died in a car crash along with his passengers. They were unable to escape from the corrupt society that brought them up, and they died as a part of that society, as the men they never wanted to become. Reiner lightens up the tone of the story and continues to abandon King’s social commentary by keeping Vern and Teddy alive. In the film, Vern is said to have married right out of high school, and Teddy works odd jobs around town after being released from jail. Due to his alteration and neglect of these two essential elements that contribute to King’s social commentary, Ron Reiner achieves an intermediate adaptation of “The Body.”

The Hunger Games, and Kevin

First off, condolences to Kevin Michael's family. Kevin was a real asset to the Park School, and the fact that he's gone leaves a gaping hole in the Ithaca College community as a whole. He will be missed.

Of course, we've got to move on from tragedy. So let's talk Hunger Games; which, I suppose, isn't really any better. That's not a stab against the movie -- from the trailer, it looks great -- but the story, if you don't know, isn't the happiest-go-luckiest of the bunch.

Quick summary: Post-apocalyptic world. In the nation of Panem -- which was once the US -- a government punishes their people for past protests in a televised annual event called The Hunger Games, where one boy and one girl from each "district" is called to fight to the death. The winner will bring their district prizes and live in luxury. Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from the impoverished District 12, is called to play in the games; but she has other ideas for the Games and the government of Panem.

It's not often that I rave about how good a film adaptation of a book looks; but watching the trailer, I was drooling. When I read the books this summer, I had a vivid idea of how the sets would look, how the characters acted, how they fought, the music, etc. Everything in this trailer is exactly how I expected it, except for the actors. They look a little too clean and pretty for poor and oppressed citizens living in the slums and woods. But that's Hollywood; and to be honest, everything else about this movie so far has overshadowed that one little thing.

What's most impressive about this movie is how natural everything looks for a movie that's so unnatural. Maybe it's the rapid fire nature of the trailer, but nothing looked artificial or choppy; the makers of this film really devoted their time and energy into making every detail exactly right, and it shows. Watching the trailer immersed me in this universe. It's something amazing when a trailer can do that.

The movie comes out on my 21st birthday, so I might have to miss opening night for "celebration" and "good decisions." But I predict that The Hunger Games will be the movie event of 2012. What? Twilight? Get that weak mess out of here. Katniss Everdeen will kick Bella's pregnant ass around the block this way and that way. Like, you don't even know.

The Graduate and its Similarities with The 400 Blows

For this week’s blog post, we were asked to read a chapter from Closely Watched Films by Marilyn Fabe. In the chapter it focuses on François Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows. This autobiographical film was made by Truffaut when he was twenty-seven years old and helped launched the French New Wave, a national film moment that flourished between 1959 and 1963. While I have not seen The 400 Blows or any film that is considered part of the French New Wave era, I have seen other films that reminded one of many of the principles and styles of these unique films.

French film critic Alexandra Astruc argued that cinema was a language and could potentially be an art form as powerful as poetry or literature. Traditionally the “author” of a film is the screenwriter but New Wave theorists believe the script was only a blueprint and that the director is the artist that puts his vision into the film. However many of these New Wave films like The 400 Blows were directed by the screenwriter. This reminds me of one of my favorite writers/directors, Charlie Kaufman. While he is mostly known for his writing, his film Synecdoche, New York, which he wrote and directed, is a bizarre film about a theater struggling director attempting to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play. This movie’s title is also similar to The 400 Blows’ title because both have double meanings. The 400 Blows not only refers to the adventures of a rebel teenager but also the actual blows dealt by his parents. Kaufman’s title not only means the city of Schenectady, where much of the film is set but also the concept of synecdoche, wherein a part of something represents the whole or vice versa. Another Kaufman film, Adaptation, is similar to this Truffaut film. While The 400 Blows was autobiographical to his life, Adaptation revolves around a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman and his actual struggle of adapting the novel The Orchid Thief into a film. In case you could not tell it was based on Kaufman’s actual struggle from his life!

Reading about The 400 Blows also reminded me of the movie The Graduate. While not a perfect match there are some striking similarities between the films. First there is a shot in Truffaut’s film that focuses on the character of Antoine as he runs through the country toward the sea. The shot is all in one shot in order to be dramatically effective. The audience sees him running for a long time without the least indication of fatigue thus, we are able to experience the pure adrenaline-fueled sprint. In the ending of The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman’s character is seen running down the street in two long shots (the shots start 30 seconds in). He is determined to stop the wedding of his dream girl. Nothing will get in his way! Another similarity between the films is with both the film’s endings. In Truffaut’s film, as he is making his dash for freedom he runs to the sea. When he finally gets to the ocean he accomplishes his goal but he realizes he is trapped. In The Graduate, Benjamin succeeds in stopping Elaine’s wedding and both of them make it on to the bus to run away. But as the bus drives away their smiles fade (skip ahead to 3:40). Even though there is no dialogue some people interpret this quiet ending as both characters realizing what they just did and perhaps thinking they may have made a huge mistake. But the ending can be seen in two ways depending on the audience. One final similarity between the films again involves The Graduate’s end. Supposedly the “sobering” ending is actually from the directions the director Mike Nichols gave the actors in the moment. He was actually shouting at them to laugh during the scene but the actors were so scared that after the laughing they stopped, with looks of worry. He liked it so much he kept it in the final film. In The 400 Blows Truffaut wanted a certain actress for the part of the psychiatrist but since she was unavailable he decided to never show the psychiatrist but instead only hear her lines. Another decision made in the moment by the director!

While different people made these films during different times, there are very similar. This just proves that powerful and inspirational films can help influence future directors and filmmakers with their works just like Truffaut’s The 400 Blows influenced many movies to come.

8 1/2: Breaking the Rules and Paving the Way for the Future

For this week’s blog post, we were asked to read a chapter from Closely Watched Films by Marilyn Fabe. In the chapter it focuses on Federico Fellini’s film 8 ½. This unusual film broke a lot of the “rules” of cinema and helped pave a road for creative pieces of entertainment in the future. Overall after reading this chapter I came away with that certain “rules” of cinema could be broken with good reasons and intentions like how Fellini broke many of them in his strange and baffling film 8 ½.

8 ½ is a film about “director’s block” and tells the story of Guido Anselmi, a film director, who during the filming of his latest film, suddenly loses inspiration and worries he will not be able to finish and fail. One of the first “rules” Fellini “broke” was the non-linear story. The linear plot is constantly interrupted with Guido’s dreams, fantasies, and childhood memories that are triggered by present problems. This helps create a world of fantasy and makes it clear to the audience that this film is not about life but the make believe world of film. When first reading about this it reminded me of Christopher Nolan’s film Memento. That film is about Leonard Shelby who has anterograde amnesia searching for the killer of his wife. The film’s events are told in two separate narratives. One is told in chronological order in black and white and the other is told in color in reverse chronological order. As each sequence begins the audience is unaware of the preceding events just like the main character. Finally at the end the film’s narratives converge and everything makes a lot more sense. Memento in comparison seems a lot easier to understand and follow than 8 ½ and since I was confused during Memento I can’t even comprehend my level of confusion if I watched 8 ½.

Another “rule” 8 ½ breaks is with editing. For example objects in the background and the orientation of people in the room move from shot to shot. This disrupts the viewer’s illusion of “reality” because in real life these kinds of things would not happen. However it makes perfect sense in the film because it helps capture the disoriented process of recalling memories, which the main character is doing. Try it yourself. It is hard to pinpoint the exact location of people and objects when recalling memories. In other words “rules” are meant to be broken but only with good reasons like Fellini had.

Like Memento, 8 ½ reminded me of a lot of other movies and television shows I have seen. First it reminded me of Six Feet Under when sometimes Fellini creates dream sequences or fantasies that are not really happening. Six Feet Under would use this method all the time to show what was really going on in their characters’ heads. Overall the plot of the film reminds me of two movies; Adaptation and Tropic Thunder. Adaptation is a Charlie Kaufman film about Charlie Kaufman’s difficult struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief novel into a film. It turns out it is based on upon his actual struggle when hired to write the film’s screenplay. Tropic Thunder is about a bunch of prima donna actors who are making a Vietnam War film based on the fictional novel Tropic Thunder. When their director becomes frustrated he decides to skip the script and drop them into the middle of the jungle to survive real action and danger. In the end the making of the film becomes the actual film in the film’s reality and is a worldwide smash! Sound familiar? Between these four movies and shows it is clear to see that Fellini’s movie paved the way for future strange and creative projects. It can take just one person to change the way we think and Fellini was definitely one for many people.