In the last period, various film adaptations based on novels have been taking place in theaters: what are the films based on the best books? The history of cinema is dotted with hugely successful films that have their roots in the publishing world. Just think of The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. This is why today we want to talk to you about books from which highly successful films have been made
Cinema has always “fished” many of its ideas from the publishing world. There are in fact innumerable films inspired by or adapted from novels. Each literary genre has its bestsellers even among the titles of the most loved films by critics and audiences. In this special we will talk about films based on books, telling you about six titles that have given life to films that – for better or for worse – we will hardly be able to forget. Let’s go to the discovery of movies based on the best books!
The Shining – Stephen King | Movies based on the best books
For the genre horror it was impossible not to choose the master Stephen King, of whom we recently saw Pet Semetary in the halls. His novels are undoubtedly the best when it comes to terror and are also among the most chosen for film adaptations, but the milestone remains the cult. Shining. The film quite faithfully follows the plot of the novel which unfolds as follows:
The Overlook, a strange and imposing hotel overlooking the high mountains of Colorado, has been the scene of numerous crimes and suicides and seems to have absorbed evil forces that are beyond all human understanding and manifest themselves especially in winter, when the hotel closes and remains insulated due to the snow. A failed writer, Jack Torrance, with his wife Wendy and five-year-old son Danny, agrees to be the winter watchman at the Overlook, and that’s when the forces of evil are unleashed with renewed impetus: the family is soon enveloped. in a sinister atmosphere. In front of Danny – who is endowed with an extrasensory power, the “shine” -, the horrible events that took place in the hotel rooms materialize, but if the child strongly opposes traps and presences, the father becomes a victim.
Published in 1977 it remains today one of King’s masterpieces and an undisputed cult among fans of the genre. In 1980 the brilliant director Stanley Kubrick he decided to make a film with the same title and to choose the crazy and unruly as the protagonist Jack Nicholson. There is no need to add much more except that: if you have not read this cornerstone of contemporary literature you must absolutely fix it.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams | Movies based on the best books
In the science fiction genre it was impossible not to choose this novel. The first novel of the homonymous series consisting of five total novels is still today one of the most read books in the science fiction genre and to which reference is made in many other works of the same field. Published in 1978 was born as an adaptation of Douglas Adams of a radio show of the same name and in turn gives life to a film adaptation. In fact, in 2005 Garth Jennings decides to base a film on this series of novels and choose protagonists as faces Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell e Zooey Deschanel.
The plot on which the novel and in turn the film unfolds is this:
The protagonist, Arthur Dent, discovers that some bulldozers are about to demolish his house to make room for a new freeway. After a few hours the inhabitants of Earth will discover that their planet is about to have the same fate, due to a fleet of spaceships, the prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Viability Agency Hyperspace, suddenly appearing in the sky. Arthur is saved by an old friend of his, Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien originally from the star Betelgeuse and who drags him with him, asking for a ride to one of the wrecking ships.
Arthur will thus discover an unknown universe, in the literal sense of the term, in which his only compass will be the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It is a book in the form of a small computer, a universal best seller (excluding Earth). Ford will lead him on exciting and improbable adventures, tossed around in space-time aboard the “Golden Heart” spaceship, which travels at “infinite improbability propulsion”, in the company of an old childhood friend of Ford. two-headed, now former President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, his Terran girlfriend, Trillian, and a perpetually depressed robot, Marvin.
An ironic, engaging and brilliant novel. It gives food for thought of a very deep level by never making the reader stop smiling. Unfortunately, the film adaptation has not been able to do justice to this literary masterpiece that deserves to be read, reread and known by all fans of the genre and beyond.
The Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis | Movies based on the best books
For the fantasy category I have chosen to recommend a book a little less mainstream than the usual ones Harry Potter The Lord of the Rings, which although masterpieces of the genre are now known in every corner of the planet. The Chronicles of Narnia is not a simple novel but a set of seven short stories by CS Lewis, published one year apart, starting from 1950, connected by a common thread. We have seen only three transposed to the cinema, which were also the first published but which in the total publication were then divided to respect the narrative order desired by the author. At the cinema we have seen: The lion. the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian e The Voyage of the Sailing Ship. The complete book also includes: The Silver Chair, The Horse and the Boy, The Magician’s Nephew e The Last Battle.
The plot of the entire novel was then examined and analyzed over the years to reconstruct its deeper meaning. It was in fact understood that The Chronicles of Narnia it is nothing more than a beautiful and articulated biblical metaphor.
The saga tells the story of the four Pevensie brothers, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who are sent to stay for a few months at the home of Professor Digory Kirkle, who lives in a large house, in order to escape the air raids that are looming over their city. , with only Mrs. MacReady company. In this house, while playing hide and seek, Lucy finds a room with only a wardrobe inside, which opens onto a magical world, Narnia, inhabited by magical creatures such as fauns and talking animals, ruled by the evil Queen Jadis, who believes in a return to the power of the old king, a lion named Aslan. The four brothers must defeat the white queen and restore peace to Narnia.
Over the course of the books, the Pevensie brothers’ trips to Narnia have diminished: in fact, for example, Peter and Susan can no longer go there due to their age, which will also happen to Lucy and Edmund from the fourth novel. In addition to the four brothers, the younger cousins Eustache Scrubbs and Jill Pole will also go to Narnia. In the latest novel, the Pevensie brothers return to Narnia, all except Susan, who has begun to focus more on a teenager’s life than magical worlds, and therefore cannot return to Narnia until she believes she is. new.
What appears to be a series of children’s stories turns out to be a profound book with well-structured themes as the stories flow. A book that if you have never had the pleasure of reading will capture you and bring you into the world of Narnia, leaving you with different food for thought on the ending.
Not a country for old men – Cormac McCarthy | Movies based on the best books
Among the mystery books the eligible titles for this special were many, but the one that has remained most impressed in my memory is undoubtedly this. Published in 2005 by McCarthy, who only two years later was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the book La Strada, was able to captivate me for his tight and captivating style of writing. Although it is much less known than the film that was based on it, it is however a masterpiece at the same level. When the general public hears of Not a country for old men, they immediately think of the Oscar awarded to Javier Bardem for the role of the cryptic and disturbing killer with a peculiar hairdo, or the talented hand of the Coen brothers who directed the film and wrote the screenplay, but the first genius to have had the idea of creating this story is Cormac McCarthy.
We are on the border between Texas and Mexico, in a country that has abandoned its old values to fall prey to blind and uncontrolled violence. Such violence is embodied in Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic killer armed with a deadly weapon and a dangerous philosophy of justice. His opponent, a man of the past who cannot understand the ferocity of the present, is Sheriff Bell. Both are on the hunt for Llewelyn Moss, a Vietnam veteran who, while hunting antelopes on the Rio Grande, found himself on the crowded site of a battle between drug traffickers, and took advantage of an opportunity that proved too big for him. The chase takes place along and across the border, in a crescendo of suspense and violence.
A novel unknown to many but which deserves to be rediscovered especially if you have enjoyed the film adaptation. Not suitable for the most sensitive due to a particularly crude narrative, but which knows how to capture attention from start to finish in a succession of twists.
Call me by your name – André Aciman | Movies based on the best books
For those who appreciate romance and love stories more, I couldn’t help but talk about this delicate and exciting novel that we saw in theaters in 2017. Call me by your name has in fact given the idea for the homonymous transposition directed by Luca Guadagnino which also won the Oscar, for the best non-original screenplay, a James Ivory. A novel set in Italy, which conveys all the delicacy of a first love lived with the passion and ingenuity of the young age of the two protagonists.
The atmosphere of an 80’s summer in Northern Italy, outdoor parties, bicycles, music. Everything is told in great detail without ever falling into the verbose or predictable. Written with elegance and talent by Aciman who has been able to superbly inspire those who worked on the film adaptation of the same. The faces of Timothée Chalamet e Armie Hammer they have been able to mold themselves perfectly on the protagonists Elio and Oliver.
The story of the sudden and overwhelming attraction that blossoms between two boys, the seventeen-year-old Elio, son of a university professor, on vacation with his family in their villa on the Riviera and a young guest, invited for the summer, the twenty-four-year-old Oliver, who is working on her postdoctoral thesis. That summer of the mid-eighties is recalled, after twenty years, by the youngest of the protagonists. Shocked and totally unprepared …