M34
On can only hope that this film servers some purpose by being used in Film 101 for film students to see all the possible attributes of definitive bad adaption. I have to say I enjoyed the novel. The novel *tries* to be original, self consciously so. One gets the sense the author had made a study of non-linear timeline work and threw in some Proust and painful immigration and old age stories. Still the novel is worth a read, it is complex, and average to above average workBut the film is a complete mess. Two thirds or more of the narrative complexity and intersections, which are precisely what makes the novel interesting, are lopped away. Amazingly the film still is disjointed and jarring, and instead of being easier to follow -- now simply full of narrative holes.
kaconcini
If you've read the book, this movie will be painful beyond all belief. It will prove sometimes good authors cave for monetary reasons and give up the purpose of their novel for some cheap big screen existence. All that was beautiful in the novel, the true symbols and emotions was stripped apart to bit and pieces of modern gimmicky references. Stilen names of characters and brief concepts of ideas was all that was left. A innocent girl in love with her family turned into a moody teenager, a sweet sad old man turned into an angry spout of distaste, and a sad beautiful mother turned into a crazy agoraphobic? Did the author lose the rights to her book in a card game? They left out the actual history of love...
j-m-w
Its awesome how this film manages to twist and bring together its multi-layered story. Really heartwarming. Especially because you actually don't like any character of this movie. They are cute and you feel with them, but there isn't someone who is clearly the hero-main character. I really enjoyed it, all of them have there small personalities and mistakes. But you cant stop watching because of this.They cut out one scene with the young Alma, which i would regret as a cutter, because it clarifies the motivation of young Alma on the point, where i had some struggles to understand her only with the movie, though i have to say, you can understand her motivation only with the movie as well.Everybody who likes a heartwarming story with multidimensional characters and a multi-layered story, i can hardly recommend this movie.
Dan Stancel (danstancel)
I thought the movie was just great. It is a very moving story, based on facts that happened to the Jewish population in Eastern Europe during WW2. From beginning to end, there is nothing that I disliked about this movie. The characters, the story, the music, they all get a solid 10 from me.
AD
