So we saw the movie version of 'Winter's Tale' which required me to re-read the first three chapters of Mark Helprin's excellent novel on the subway trip home, to restore my faith in humanity and this extraordinary book. I think that Akiva Goldsman either a) skimmed the book, b) just read the back copy of the paperback edition or c) ripped all the pages out and glued half of them back in random order to write his screenplay. The movie is a mess but a well-intentioned mess.
The negatives: There are a number of serious continuity errors, some laughable dialogue, and a great book with its satiric bite and Dickensian wit sacrificed on the Hollywood altar. Also missing, MAJOR novel characters (Praeger de Pinto, Hardesty Maratta, Cecil Mature (in the movie but unrecognizable unless you really look), Jackson Meade and Mootfowl. The last act has NOTHING to do with the novel's climax and instead focuses on one of the book's lesser sub-plots substituting Peter for Hardesty Maratta. Throughout the movie, events in the book are re-told but shifted to the wrong time period and (too often) to the wrong characters, Russell Crowe has marbles in his mouth, and Will Smith's character is NOT I repeat NOT in the novel. Peter Lake did not grow up in Brooklyn but with the Baymen of the Bayonne Marsh who are also missing from the film.
The positives: What's left is a sweet, gushy romance that has a Wagnerian sweep and an epic feel that occasionally gets Helprin right. I'm glad I saw it with Emily, the music is bloody marvelous, and Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay are a satisfactory Peter Lake and Beverly Penn. Jennifer Connelly is good casting for Virginia Gamely although removing her character's remarkable entry to NY gives us no idea who she is. Eva Marie Saint is luxury casting in the last act. The best scene: William Hurt as Isaac Penn quoting one of my favorite lines directly from the novel: "Be brief. If you were one of my journalists you'd be done by now. God created the world in six days. Ape him."
Skip the movie. Go read the book.
The negatives: There are a number of serious continuity errors, some laughable dialogue, and a great book with its satiric bite and Dickensian wit sacrificed on the Hollywood altar. Also missing, MAJOR novel characters (Praeger de Pinto, Hardesty Maratta, Cecil Mature (in the movie but unrecognizable unless you really look), Jackson Meade and Mootfowl. The last act has NOTHING to do with the novel's climax and instead focuses on one of the book's lesser sub-plots substituting Peter for Hardesty Maratta. Throughout the movie, events in the book are re-told but shifted to the wrong time period and (too often) to the wrong characters, Russell Crowe has marbles in his mouth, and Will Smith's character is NOT I repeat NOT in the novel. Peter Lake did not grow up in Brooklyn but with the Baymen of the Bayonne Marsh who are also missing from the film.
The positives: What's left is a sweet, gushy romance that has a Wagnerian sweep and an epic feel that occasionally gets Helprin right. I'm glad I saw it with Emily, the music is bloody marvelous, and Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay are a satisfactory Peter Lake and Beverly Penn. Jennifer Connelly is good casting for Virginia Gamely although removing her character's remarkable entry to NY gives us no idea who she is. Eva Marie Saint is luxury casting in the last act. The best scene: William Hurt as Isaac Penn quoting one of my favorite lines directly from the novel: "Be brief. If you were one of my journalists you'd be done by now. God created the world in six days. Ape him."
Skip the movie. Go read the book.