There’s a nice little article in Macleans magazine this week about our very own David Adams Richards.

I haven’t read his latest yet. I just recently finished The Bay of Love and Sorrows because I knew the movie would be out on video soon and I always like to read the book before seeing the movie. Although I don’t know why I do that because 9 times out of 10 the movie isn’t as good as the book and I’m disappointed.

Do you know what I mean? I can only think of a few that didn’t leave me feeling disappointed. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one. I loved the book and I loved the movie! I seem to recall at the time that many of my friends who hadn’t read the book didn’t enjoy the movie though. I think their expectations were different from mine, based on all the vampire type movies they’d ever seen.

Another one that immediately springs to mind is The Firm with Tom Cruise. I enjoyed that movie too. I’m not a big John Grisham fan. In my opinion, his first novel, A Time to Kill I believe, was his best and his work gets progressively more predictable and sloppy with every book he writes. But he’s a New York Times bestseller and I’m not, so I may just be jealous. The Firm was pretty early on in his career though and I enjoyed it.

These movies stick out as being excellent adaptations of their books for completely different reasons. Francis Ford Coppola’s interpretation of Dracula didn’t take anything away from Bram Stoker. He stayed so true to the story, stressing the same parts I would have stressed if I made the movie. So, I went in half-expecting not to like it because it wouldn’t be the same as the book and I came out loving it even more because it was the same as the book.

Sydney Pollack did the exact opposite with The Firm. The movie was more loosely based on Grisham’s novel. It was almost a different story altogether. So, while I had read the novel before seeing the movie, I was just as surprised as the next guy by the ending. That doesn’t always work in adaptations, but I think The Firm was a good movie in its own right.

Back to Richards, I would have liked to have gone to the theatre to see The Bay of Love and Sorrows , I LOVE the big screen! But that film zipped in and out of town faster than I could blink. I think it only played one day, although I could be wrong on that. Please feel free to correct me. Maybe it did play a whole week. At any rate, by the time I knew it was here, it wasn’t here anymore, so I missed it. I haven’t had time to rent the video yet either. Has anyone seen it? Any thoughts. As good as the book or a bit disappointing?

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