Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Tristram Shandy

I just got back from our local theatre Luna Leederville, where they show a good mix of arthouse and non-mainstream movies. It was my 'artists date' for the week. Kind of handy being just a stroll up the road and having tickets at only $6.50 on Wednesdays!

It was a great choice of creative stimulation let me tell you! Check it out here on the Mad Man film site - Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
I was a little disappointed when I got home and checked to see if it was in my 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die book ... and it wasn't in there!

The myth around the book is that film makers and other creative types have always claimed it was too difficult a book to make in to a film, despite the comedy and attraction of the story ... the book has romance, action, war, romantic period, family love as a theme ... all the basic attractants for a commercial film ... but it is also confusing and deep with a million and one different branches to follow ... there is a copy of the book on the internet here ...The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

So did the film tell the story?
No way!

So we still don't know if the book can be made in to a film or not ...

But it really isn't the question of the day ... this is a film really worth seeing for those of us in the arts that are trying to make our work accessible to the public ... a really funny film too ... have an artist's date!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog. I checked out yours and find it to be good reading and will be back for more. Bill

Amy said...

They have always said the same thing about John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany; and aside from the movie Simon Birch, which dealt with only a portion of the book, it hasn't happened yet, either.