16 August 2012

ELIC

I finally watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I read the book years ago and I just really enjoy Jonathan Safran Foer's storytelling and writing style. However, my boyfriend didn't want to see this movie at all, ever, because it hinges on the attack on 9/11. So I had to find a time to watch it by myself.

Without giving away too much of this film, I'll say that it's about a young boys who lost his father on 9/11 and is on a search to try to feel close to him. The actor (Thomas Horn) narrated most of the film, as in the book, so the tone was often simple. However, it also was often very intense and profound.

All in all, the film followed the book quite well. However, like the film Everything is Illuminated (based off another Foer novel), it cut out most of the 'historical' parts. The parts about the main characters' grandparents in Europe during WWII. Those parts were the ones that I found most engaging in each of the books. But the movie worked anyhow, telling the more simple storyline of the main character. I do think that the movie tried to draw too much from 9/11 references. The book certainly had that element, but the story was much more about the boy finding himself and connecting with others than about the attacks.

I tried to get my mother to read the book shortly after I read it, but she couldn't get past the fact that the nine year old boy's mom let him run around New York alone.

I just wish she could have held out until the end. The story is very happily nuanced.

3 comments:

Abby said...

Hmm, I can sympathize with both your boyfriend and your mom. Even if I like the writing, if I find story elements disturbing, I will not enjoy a book/movie (I had troubles with Hunger Games because of that). Maybe I'll attempt another book by the same author.

Larz said...

Read Everything is Illuminated. It's my all time favorite book. I wrote a very extensive essay on it in college about the difference between truth and fact.

Abby said...

Quite an endorsement. I see my library has it, so I've no excuse to not check it out. Thanks for the recommend.