Thought I'd post this in full:
Seafar posted a comment/review in the previous news post about the BIWHM movie,
I saw BRIEF INTERVIEWS at Sundance. As a fan of both DFW, and this site, thought I'd add a quick opinion on the film....I've never seen the U.S. version of The Office, but Krasinski doesn't have the chops as either a filmmaker, nor an actor, for this kind of material. Not yet anyway. The film simply doesn't find a way to intersect formally/structurally with the source material. And I really wanted it to be good, great even. What was interesting to me was how much difficultly the actors had with the monologues (most of the performances just didn't find that sweet spot). Interesting because DFW's writing reads so spot-on re: vernacular, slang, colloquial syntax....yet, apparently, its hard to act. A caution for future adaptations. There are some good moments, and its not a disaster, but just doesn't cohere.
Thanks, seafar. This is exactly the kind of commentary DFW readers are looking for.
I find it interesting that seafar mentions the difficulty actors had with the monlogues. It will be interesting to compare the film with the quality of the performances in George Carr's wonderful (audio only) Brief Interviews Project.
Maybe it's just that we can see the men? George concludes his B.I. Project intro with:
The text was adapted into a stage play shortly after their publication, and adapted again into a screenplay that's filming in 2007. But for me, the Interviews would be spoiled by visual images: I read them on the page, and hear a 'voice' in the aether. These recordings are what I believe Brief Interviews With Hideous Men were really destined for. Now available for your listening pleasure and consideration.
Enjoy.
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