Dennis Lehane - Shutter Island

[Donna, Co-Moderator]

Found this short interesting interview with Dennis Lehane discussing the film adaptation of Shutter Island and some of his other work.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/06/11/a...

[Libby]

Thanks, Donna for the link to the Dennis Lehane interview. Coincidentally, I JUST saw the movie last night, so I enjoyed his take on it. Generally, I thought it was a pretty good adaptation. The only thing that bothered me were the CGI/green screen backgrounds (like movies of the '40s, ie Gothics). I realize Scorcese was playing around with reality vs illusion, but I wonder if there could have been another way to do it. Those scenes really called attention to themselves. But hey, I used to be a filmmaker (in another life) so maybe I was super sensitive to them.

[Donna, Co-Moderator]

I haven't had a chance to see this movie but I am certainly putting it on my Netflix list.

Actually, I just started reading Lehane's books following a trip to Boston. I am really enjoying the Kenzie and Gennaro series and will be looking for the movie versions of those as well.

[Vince]

Libby wrote: "Thanks, Donna for the link to the Dennis Lehane interview. Coincidentally, I JUST saw the movie last night, so I enjoyed his take on it. Generally, I thought it was a pretty good adaptation. The on..."

Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed how artificial the back-projected scenes looked, but I think we are in the minority. Had you read the book prior to seeing the film? I had, so I was looking for any clues from the beginning. I think if you went in blind you'd have overlooked some subtleties. I was the only one on a DVD forum who mentioned this, most of the people were arguing whether or not he was really "crazy". (At first I thought Scorsese was just giving a nod to Hitchcock & others with the phony looking shots.)

[Gail]

Vince wrote: "Libby wrote: "Thanks, Donna for the link to the Dennis Lehane interview. Coincidentally, I JUST saw the movie last night, so I enjoyed his take on it. Generally, I thought it was a pretty good adap..."
I agree about the nod to Hitchcock and possibly to make it more "artsy". To me the ending " felt" different in the movie-it seemed he made the choice to be "crazy" and have a lobotomy because he couldn't deal with the pain. The book was more subtle to me. But I enjoyed them both.

[James]

I agree. I thought it was a very good adaptation, and I loved the feel of the movie. I enjoyed the book as well, but when it comes to Lehane, I now tend to measure everything against MYSTIC RIVER, which I thought was fantastic both as a book and as a move--a hard standard to live up to.