Lindsey Buttel // Blog Writer
With the start of a new month comes the start of a new movie season. Here are the adaptations coming out this month, letting you know how long you still have to read the books before the movie comes out!
Brooklyn – November 4 (Limited Release)
John Crowley’s Brooklyn will be the first adaptation of the month with the screenplay by Nick Hornby. The story follows Colm Toibin’s novel, also named Brooklyn, about an Irish immigrant, Eilis Lacey, in the 50s who reluctantly moves to New York City after her sister, Rose, encourages her to take a job there. Though she only immigrated to appease her family and get a job, she falls in love with the city and an Italian-American plumber named Tony. When a family issue calls her back to Ireland, Eilis is split between her passions for both lands she wants to call home, as seen through her love for individuals within both.
Room – November 6 (Nationwide)
Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, has been on limited release for a couple weeks, but will be released in all theaters nationwide at the beginning of November. Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel, Room, instantly became popular as readers followed the story told by five-year-old Jack about his journey from his entire world inside of one small room with his mother and criminal landlord to a much larger world on the outside. The movie should be true to the book, considering the screenplay is also written by Donoghue, with a few small changes. The movie will spend more time focusing on a younger Ma and Jack’s life on the outside. It also explores a new family dynamic with Jack’s new grandparents. However, the movie still encompasses the same thrilling and heart-wrenching plot.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two – November 12 (Nationwide)
Francis Lawrence’s fourth Hunger Games movie brings Suzanne Collins’ trilogy to a close. Taking place during the last third of the novel, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two will take place when Katniss and her team escapes the “safety” of District Thirteen and goes to the capital to battle a long-awaited war and assassinate President Snow. Lawrence has said in interviews that he made the movies for the books, implying that he and screenwriters Danny Strong and Peter Craig will try and keep movie pretty similar to what Collins intended. When asked about how the final movie will differ, he said, “I think everybody here who loves the end of the last book is going to love the end of this last movie…Things change in adaptations, so there will be some differences, but we always wanted to make the books.” So if you haven’t read the trilogy already, there is plenty of time to read the last half of Collins’ Mockingjay.
Carol – November 20 (Limited Release)
Todd Hayne’s Carol, based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel, The Price of Salt, will be shown in select theaters towards the end of the month. The film follows two women in the 1950’s in New York City: Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett). Therese, a department store worker in her twenties, falls in love with the older, married Carol who finds comfort in Therese, compared to the current discomfort she feels in her loveless marriage. While Highsmith’s novel was based in-part by real-life experiences. Highsmith herself worked as a department store clerk like Therese, while Carol was based on an ex-lover and Philadelphia celebrity in the 1950’s. The book looked mostly through Therese’s eyes as she examined and idolized Carol through her perspective, as would Highsmith for her own former lover. Hayne takes the movie through a new perspective, and has screenwriter Phyllis Nagy write in Carol’s perspective, which in the novel is usually a mystery. After fifteen years of trying to make this film, it is finally ready, and definitely awaited in a community where same-sex movies are sparse and under-represented.
Victor Frankenstein – November 25 (Nationwide)
Paul McGuigan takes a very unique spin in his new film Victor Frankenstein. Screenwriter Max Landis writes the film from the perspective of Igor Strausman (Daniel Radcliffe), Victor Frankenstein’s (James McAvoy) assistant and protégé, who is a character that does not appear in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The film, in fact, is only loosely based off the premise of Shelley’s novel and takes place within the first third of the novel, where Frankenstein tries to create life, and against many odds, he succeeds. The film does not choose to follow the monster, but follows Igor watching Frankenstein go mad as he tries to bring him back, despite his unreal creation of life and desire to create more.
The Danish Girl – November 27 (Limited Release)
Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl will be available to audiences in New York City and Los Angeles at the end of the month. The movie is based on David Ebershoff’s novel, The Danish Girl, which is inspired by the true story of Lily Elbe, a Danish painter and the first women to undergo a surgical sex change operation. However, Ebershoff’s character, Lili Elbe, does not follow the true story completely. The novel follows Lili, before her transition as Einer Wegener, and shows her life with her wife, Gerda Wegener, who had Lili model as a woman for her paintings. The novel then shows the journey and battle of Lili’s transition. Screenwriter Lucinda Coxon follows much of the same story in the movie, starring Alicia Vikander as Gerda and Eddie Redmayne as Lili. The film has been in the making since the novel came out fifteen years ago, and, though transgender rights and representation have become more mainstream, still does not feature a transgender woman as Lili.