For our Art Day during orientation, we were fortunate enough to have Jonathan Safran Foer come speak to us about his work. His book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is a touching story about 11 year old Oskar Schell’s emotional journey after the death of his father in the 9/11 attacks. It is a fantastic book which I would recommend to anyone who hasn’t already read it.
Like most fantastic books, it is now being adapted into a motion picture. The movie stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock as Oskar’s parents. While I can’t help but feel that the big names might take the focus away from Oskar’s story, the trailer did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the book.
While the preview is excellently done, I am a bit afraid of how the movie will treat the grandfather’s story. On the one hand, it may be better for the movie if they cut out his whole backstory and focus more on Oskar and his Immediate family. On the other hand, the grandfather’s story was one of my favorite parts of the book and it added a great deal of emotional weight to the story. Either way, I will definitely be seeing this movie when it comes out in December.
I’m really glad you put this up, because it gives me something to anticipate. I loved the book and I can’t wait for the movie to come out, so I can see how they adapted it for the big screen.
Wow! This actually looks like a great movie! Thanks for posting it! The trailer looks great, so I hope it doesn’t disappoint us. From the trailer it seems like the movie is more or less true to the book, but it’s probably too early to tell. Can’t wait to find out!
I loved the book, particularly the poetic style of Foer. I cannot wait to see this movie and anticipate how they will translate Foer’s poetic diction into a visual one.
What I loved most about the book was the powerfully poetic style. I’m not sure how well they will be able to make that come across in a movie.
I saw this trailer last week and was surprised to see the names of Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock! The trailer was a nice teaser and I am excited to see if they were able to capture what I found the most interesting and important in this adapted film. Maybe we should make a group date to see it when it is released next year. =D
To a certain extent, I agree with Ilanna that it will not be the same. The style of the book was so unique and artistic that its impossible to imagine it translated well onscreen. But the beauty of an adaptation is that it is not (or at least should not be) a translation. It is an interpretation for a completely different medium. In that sense, I am excited to see how they interpret the story and its emotional message in movie form. I just hope they don’t let me down.
Yes, thank you for posting this! It would be awesome if we made a group date to go see it! I agree, though, that it will be interesting to see how the directors interpret the novel. Based on the trailer, the movie seems to have a more inspiring tone than the book has, which might help me see the novel in a different light. It seems almost impossible for the movie to include every aspect of the novel, though.
I wonder if it will be another one of those movies that people describe as… “not as good as the book”. After all, it is a difficult job to capture all of the details and creativity found in his novel. I mean think all the media that’s found in the book such as the flip book pages at the end of the book and the numbers that the grandpa uses to speak on the telephones. They might not even be represented in the movie and in my opinion, that would lower the greatness of the movie tremendously.
Books and movies and songs and paintings are all incredibly different. The movie will NOT be “just like the book.” It will be a movie. We would not expect a painting that depicts a particular scene to be the same, but to evoke some of the emotion of the scene it depicts. If the movie can stir some of the same emotions it will have done its job. This is a valuable lesson. I think we should go and see the movie! (But someone has to lend me their copy of the book.)