LB Sees WINTER’S TALE

Aww…a love story – hey, waitaminnit–

The Good:

• They made a film out of my wife Gwen the Beautiful’s favorite book
• It stars Collin Farrell’s eyebrows
• They let a really big deal successful writer – Akiva Goldsman – direct (this is especially important to writers)
• Much of it is taken right from the book

The Not-So-Good:

• They made it as a love story (and, as Ms. the Beautiful points out, the book was the story of a man’s search for God, with a love relationship thing a part of that story)
• It also stars Russell Crowe’s asshole (uh, that actually would be his whole public self)
• They let a really big deal successful writer – Akiva Goldsman – direct (and I think it’ll be a long, lonely while till they go that route again)
• The parts that come right from the book make absolutely no sense because this is a cult classic, see, and much of its success has been due to the way the writer writes – aka the language of the narrative – which absolutely does not translate to film

LB’s Conclusion:

If you love magic and wonder and flying horses and evil demons and complex paragraphs and very deep thoughts, then blow off this film and read the book. If you love realism and logic and order, then blow off this film but don’t read the book.

Sorry, Akiva. Life is all a matter of judgment, really, and in this particular situation my judgment is that your judgment about when to bend to the powers-that-be and when to rebel was ass-backwards. And it really hurts me to say it.

Sigh.

Author: LB

A legendary figure in the television writing and production world with a career going back to the late ’60s, Larry Brody has written and produced hundreds of hours of American and worldwide television and is a consultant to production companies and networks in the U.S. and abroad . Shows written or produced by Brody have won several awards including - yes, it's true - Emmys, Writers Guild Awards, and the Humanitas Award. View all posts by LB