I don't think it's really possible to make proper movie adaptations of Mann's novels, at least not of the long ones. "Death in Venice" worked beautifully, sure. But Buddenbrooks? 1000 pages of possibly the best writing ever put into a two hour movie? It just doesn't work. But if you just watch the movie for itself, without ever comparing it to the novel, it's not bad. I just finished watching it - the music is horribly cheesy, and the acting is sometimes a bit stilted. But they did really well with some things (woah the accents, yay!), so it's not all bad. Just don't compare it to the book. And UNF August, he's amazing. Christian is probably the most fascinating character to play in the whole thing, and August is doing really well with the role. In tiny parts: Sylvester Groth being hilarious (am I the only one who thinks that he kinda looks like James Frain? Not as Goebbels, but in some other movies?), and the guy who played Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm in Basterds. ... Oh, and another difference between novel and movie? I read the novel just for itself, and loved it. The movie got me shipping Thomas/Christian like there's no tomorrow. How am I supposed to resist hate/love-brothercest? With more hate than love, mind you. I definitely need to reread the novel to see if the slashiness is already there, or if it was only brought there by the actors. I really can't remember, but maybe that's just because Mann's writing blew my mind so much I overlooked the slash. Anyway, I don't really know about other adaptations. I've seen an adaptation of Der Zauberberg once, but I pretty much erased it from my memory. You just can't make a movie from a novel like that. *shrug* Tell me what you thought of the Buddenbrooks movie when you've seen it. Especially of August. :) I made a bunch of caps - picspam might follow.
True Blood: I agree, Jessica was rather annoying in the beginning (understandably so), but now she is really getting more interesting. I don't think Franklin will be back now. The whole burying-in-the-soil-thing doesn't work when a vampire has met "true death", as they call it. Once he got staked, he's gone, and nothing can bring him back. Otherwise Russell would have done that with Talbot, no? I don't know, I think it's very unlikely. (And if they do bring Franklin back, that will be a very pleasant surprise. ;))
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And UNF August, he's amazing. Christian is probably the most fascinating character to play in the whole thing, and August is doing really well with the role. In tiny parts: Sylvester Groth being hilarious (am I the only one who thinks that he kinda looks like James Frain? Not as Goebbels, but in some other movies?), and the guy who played Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm in Basterds.
... Oh, and another difference between novel and movie? I read the novel just for itself, and loved it. The movie got me shipping Thomas/Christian like there's no tomorrow. How am I supposed to resist hate/love-brothercest? With more hate than love, mind you. I definitely need to reread the novel to see if the slashiness is already there, or if it was only brought there by the actors. I really can't remember, but maybe that's just because Mann's writing blew my mind so much I overlooked the slash.
Anyway, I don't really know about other adaptations. I've seen an adaptation of Der Zauberberg once, but I pretty much erased it from my memory. You just can't make a movie from a novel like that. *shrug*
Tell me what you thought of the Buddenbrooks movie when you've seen it. Especially of August. :) I made a bunch of caps - picspam might follow.
True Blood: I agree, Jessica was rather annoying in the beginning (understandably so), but now she is really getting more interesting.
I don't think Franklin will be back now. The whole burying-in-the-soil-thing doesn't work when a vampire has met "true death", as they call it. Once he got staked, he's gone, and nothing can bring him back. Otherwise Russell would have done that with Talbot, no? I don't know, I think it's very unlikely. (And if they do bring Franklin back, that will be a very pleasant surprise. ;))