For voracious readers, great book-to-screen adaptations are a godsend. There is so much emotional weight in that book you were immersed in – to the extent that the characters felt like an extension of your own self. When a director, screenwriter and cast can wring the truthfulness from the original book, it does the ultimate justice to the original author, your own memories and the joy you found in that story. Whether it’s troubled families (such as the father-daughter of The Tender Bar), new perspectives on old Australian classics (The Drover’s Wife) or vile men competing to be the most ruthless real estate agent on earth (Glengarry Glen Ross), these adaptations from book to screen make for captivating viewing. And obviously if anyone asks, tell them that of course, you read the book first.
The Tender Bar
The combination of a beloved memoir, George Clooney and Ben Affleck promises so much; and indeed, The Tender Bar is a tour-de-force performance from Affleck, whose prowess as a skilled dramatic actor can often be overlooked in favour of his personal celebrity. While Clooney's acting is renowned, he can transition easily into the director's role to bring out the best in his cast. J.R. Moehringer's 2005 memoir of the same name centred upon his childhood on Long Island, New York, in the 1970s. Abandoned by his dad, young JR (Tye Sheridan) treats his uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck) as a stand-in dad, and for all his many flaws - being a barfly included - Charlie is the only one to identify JR's natural flair for writing. Lily Rabe is wonderful as JR's mother Dorothy, who fears that her son will follow his deadbeat dad's path if he continues to hang out with Charlie in a bar. When she becomes ill, leaving JR without either of his biological parents, the tenderness between Charlie and his nephew becomes the intense heart of this story. Clooney brought Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) on board to adapt Pulitzer Prize-winning Moehringer's book. Some critics felt the movie lacked momentum and drive, but in this fast-paced world, it's a luxury to have a movie that takes its time and lingers on the ordinariness and universal relatability of love, grief, abandonment and independence.
The Tender Bar is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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The Tender Bar
Comedy drama • 2021
Comedy drama • 2021
The Drover's Wife
George Clooney is a masterful multitasker, but closer to home, we have a major multitasker of our own. If writer, actor and director Leah Purcell shows up, we should all show up. This acclaimed 2021 reimagining of Henry Lawson's 1892 short story, also titled ‘The Drover's Wife’, sees Purcell playing Molly Johnson in the unforgiving, misogynist NSW of 1893. In 2016, Purcell had taken Lawson's short story as the basis for her play of the same name, switching the perspective to Molly, rather than allowing her to be merely the supporting character to Lawson's heroic drover. In Purcell's narrative, Molly is the protector of her home, her family and her business. She is also the first person to show compassion towards a local Aboriginal man, Yadaka (Rob Collins), who has been demonised by the local constabulary. Molly gives him work and a place to live, making herself a target of both police and local drovers. This is a bleak view of Australian history, and it rips Lawson's mythical hard-workin', hard-drinkin' heroic drover to shreds. It's brave, it's bold, and it's Purcell's modern Australian masterpiece.
The Drover's Wife is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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The Drover's Wife
drama • 2021
drama • 2021
Confessions of Felix Krull
Speaking of masterpieces, German author, Nobel Prize for Literature-winner Thomas Mann, left his 1954 novel Confessions of Felix Krull without an ending, and on Mann's death in 1955, it remained unfinished. The protagonist, Krull, is a philandering playboy – perhaps the predecessor to Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr.Ripley). Krull cleverly dodges military service in his homeland of Germany and hot-steps it to France to work in service jobs while conning affluent victims whose identity he subsumes. Krull is a spoilt brat, both pompous and conniving. The story has been adapted into two films and a TV series over the decades, with the most recent being this one, director Detlev Buck's version. Jannis Niewöhner (The New Look, Napoleon, Je Suis Karl) is a suave, alluring Kroll. His unwitting conspirator, the Marquis Louis De Venosta (David Kross), is his nobler doppelganger. The luxurious surrounds bring the Bell Epoque era to vivid life, and Krull finds his metier in seducing attractive hotel guests at the Grand Hotel, Paris, where he is a lift boy, then a waiter. While some viewers have read Mann's original short stories and the novel depicting Kroll's life, it is not mandatory. Like Ripley, Kroll's story is one of philandering, identity theft, class division and moral grey zones.
Confessions of Felix Krull will be streaming at SBS On Demand from 20 October.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross depicts characters who are less morally grey, and more just solidly on the wrong side of righteousness. At the very base of a scale of most trusted professionals, real estate agents often dwell. The greedy sharks circling sales dominance in playwright David Mamet's Oscar-nominated 1992 film are depraved in the most entertainingly dire fashion. Any agent who can't close a deal is out of the game, and if anyone can make such morally corrupt men impossible to look away from, it's the incredible cast. Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Bruce Altman, Kevin Spacey and the inimitable Alan Arkin are at the peak of their acting game, regardless of their sales stats. Mamet can write some truly nasty zingers that revel in the darkest elements of human nature. Think of series like Devils starring Alessandro Borghi and Patrick Dempsey as the natural iteration of Glengarry Glen Ross, in which reproachable men create their own personal hell to fester in and while they may not get their comeuppance immediately, viewers can live in hope that it's coming.
Glengarry Glen Ross is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Glengarry Glen Ross
drama • 1992
drama • 1992
Both seasons of Devils are also streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Devils
series • drama
MA15+
series • drama
MA15+
The Millennium Trilogy
One of the greatest reading experiences of this writer's life, the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy of books have been adapted into multiple films, both Swedish and American. While US director David Fincher's version was flashy with a throbbing, industrial soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, the 2009 Swedish adaptation is superior. In Swedish, the title of Larsson's book translates to "men who hate women", and that sentiment drives the narrative, explaining protagonist Lisbeth Salander's urgency and desperation purely to survive. At the heart of each movie, and the first in particular, is Lisbeth Salander's relationship with journalist Mikael Blomkvist, and their battle to reveal major corruption within a billionaire family that has ties to the Nazi party. Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist are flawless, and it was unsurprising that Rapace subsequently went on to star in a raft of American movies (including Prometheus, Alien: Covenant). As a diligent fan of Larsson's books, these adaptations rang true to the spirit of the book series. It's a convoluted story, and while you can watch the series without reading the books, doing so first definitely helps to get the gist of what's going on.
The Millennium Trilogy are all streaming at SBS On Demand – find links to all three , or jump straight to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Crime drama • mystery • 2009
Crime drama • mystery • 2009
2 States
If your faith in love is dented by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, then Chetan Bhagat's 2009 novel 2 States might reinvigorate your belief in romance. Bhagat’s novel attracted a major screen adaptation in 2014. Director Abhishek Varman recruited Bhagat to co-write the screenplay for this Hindi-language rom-com, so the adaptation is authentic to the original story. Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor are the couple at the heart of 2 States, joined by veteran stars Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Revathi (aka Asha Kelunni) and Shiv Kumar Subramaniam. Kapoor won rave reviews, justifiably, for portraying Krish Malhotra. Bhatt is also stellar as Ananya Swaminathan. Where to start with the storyline? There's a lot happening in 2 States, but ultimately it's a story of class, family expectations, illicit romance (an affair between Punjabi Malhotra and Tamilian Swaminathan) and defying the social and cultural obstacles to be together.
2 States is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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2 States
