Hollywood is a great fan of adaptations. Books, stories, news incidents, have always inspired filmmakers to metamorphose them into motion pictures. In addition to this, an adaptation from classic literature to modern pop hits has resulted in raising the doubt of “which is better? The movie or the book?” But both films do complement the story by adding visual elements to present a better imagination. Therefore, here are some films which proved themselves as better adaptations.
1. The Silence Of The Lambs
The Silence Of The Lambs is an originally written novel by Thomas Harris as a sequel to his novel “Red Dragon”. The film is an adaptation and directed by Jonathan Demme.
Clarice Starling is an eager student at the FBI Training Academy who wishes to work at the agency’s Behavioural Science Unit. Soon she gets an opportunity. The charge of the Behavioural Science Unit, Jack Crawford asks her to visit a cannibalistic murderer, Dr Hannibal Lecter. Lester is presently at a maximum-security psychiatric prison. Crawford hopes that Lester would provide better information about the killer Buffalo Bills. After visiting Lester, Clarice realizes that in order to solve the case she has to play along with Lester.
The film is a slasher film in which the woman is a hero rather than a victim, a pursuer than being pursued. It involves the uniquely American problems of serial killers, a term that was introduced for a couple of years at that time. It bought realism to the cinema.
2. Sense & Sensibility (1995)
, Sense & Sensibility is an adaptation from Jane Austen’s novel. It is directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay written by Emma Thompson.
Mrs. Dashwood with her two eligible daughters, Elinor and Marianne, and her third eleven-year-old daughter, move to a cottage in Devonshire. They find themselves surrounded by three different men’s circles. Marianne is bewildered between two handsome men. John Willoughby, a young boy, and older Colonel Brandon. Whereas elder Elinor’s romantic life with Edward Farres is hindered from her prior engagement. In the further story, both girls try to jump over the obstacles of class warfare, properties of high society.
The film is written in a sense where all the bittersweet moments create a superb drama. It shows the moral values of calmness, responsible, and understanding in contrast to heartlessness, greedy and excessive sensibility.
3. American Psycho
Based on the novel by Bret Easton Elli, American Psycho is directed by Mary Harron, and the screenplay is written by Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner.
The story takes place in the late 1980s. A 27-year-old man Patrick Bateman, young and handsome businessman. Patrick lives his second life in the moonlight as a serial killer. He is a VP at a stockbroker firm, lives in a spotless white-washed luxurious apartment, eats at fancy restaurants with his rich friends, and has a fiance. But in order to feed his bloodlust, he kills people.
The film is a psychological thriller where it shows the insecurities of men, shallowness, and their obsession with materialism.
4. No Country For Old Men
Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men is directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Out in Terrell County, Texas, a drug deal takes a catastrophic turn. In its aftermath, Llewyn Moss, a welder finds a box of 2 million dollars. He decides to keep the box and the money with himself, meanwhile the boss of the box cartel hires Anton Chirguh to trail the box. On the other side, Ed Tom, a sheriff tries to figure out the case in an attempt to make the city crime-free.
The movie is a masterpiece in terms of place, time, characters, human nature, and fate. It shows the brutal look of the crime scenes in the America of that time.
5. Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is based on the short story published in The New Yorker by Annie Proulx. It is directed by Ang Lee with the screenplay written by Ossana and Larry McMurtry.
In signal, Wyoming, Ennis Del Mar, and Jack Twist get a local job as sheepherders at the Brokeback Mountain. With being entirely opposite as talkative and completely shy and reserved, both finds a way to talk to each other. On one winter night, both men reach out to each other in a sexual passion that surprises them both. After coming back from the mountain, both get on with their lives. Ennis marries his long-term love interest, Alma, whereas Jack marries his fellow rodeo rider. In spite of that, both keep their affair alive over the course of 20 years.
Even after having flamboyant personalities, both men did not perceive homosexuals which helped in bringing normalcy in the eyes of people about homosexuals. The tragedy in the film is about the love both men feel for each other but can not show it in the eyes of the public.
