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The Hotel New Hampshire [1984]


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Skimming the waves
Review date: 2007-02-28 Rating: 4 out of 10

If you have not read the book, then this movie may intrigue you. It is quirky and interesting to say the least. As a storyline it does not lack imagination. From Maine to Vienna to NYC and back to Maine, from the Jew-hating German tourists to the radicals and the whores, from one Hotel New Hampshire to another, the dreams of a father and his colourful family unfold in a series of bizarre and at times disturbing events. And life appears to be a fairy tale that we live as we chase our dreams.

Now, in relation to the actual book, this movie can be described with just one word: RUSHED. The adaptation is so faithful that it tries to cover almost everything, all characters and all events, thereby failing miserably to project the sentiment behind the eccentric story of this highly unusual family. I could go on and on about how the accurate quotes from the original text fall flat on a screenplay that comes across truncated and patched together clumsily, how the scenes lack emotional depth, how the characters are not given enough time to be adequately developed... but I will instead characterise the whole attempt as noble but short. If the book was a long wave-like function, with a rise to a crest, then a drop followed by a building surge and another rise to another crest, over and over and over again, then the movie was just a cross-section of the top parts of this rollercoaster of a wave-like function, shaving off all the crests and placing them in a two hour blender, where they were shaken and served to please God knows what. Surely not the potential of this fascinatingly bizarre book, nor its undercurrent and extremely subtle magical tone. And it was not for lack of effort. It was for lack of realism on how to put on screen a highly bizzare story in a way that flows smoothly rather than jump spastically between scenes. A mini series would have worked much better for such a faithful adaptation. Either that or a more free-flowing interpretation that could possibly make sense within the 120 minutes that are usually allocated to a motion picture.

Thank God for Jodie Foster's and Beau Bridges's performances, who bring Fanny and Win Berry to life. Keep passing the open windows and read the book for a much richer and meaningful experience. As far as this movie is concerned, just toss it out as far as you can. And if you are to keep it, then do so to remind yourselves of how to NOT adapt a great book onto the screen. This is the only reason why I keep mine.

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Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jodie Foster
Beau Bridges
Wallace Shawn
Joely Richardson
Seth Green

Creators:
Jodie Foster (Primary Contributor)
Joely Richardson (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Prism Leisure
Manufacturer: Prism Leisure
EAN: 5050824169051
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-09-25
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Running time: 109 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1984
Language: English (Original Language)

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