Aurorina

It’s not easy to put the original story in a two hour movie without confusing the audience. But they made it. The whole crew and cast were fantastic. They did a phenomenal job together. They accomplished the impossible.

First, the script is great. They kept the spirit of the story but they also adapted some parts. Like the scene when Henry tells Gomez he is actually a time traveler. In the book, Henry breaks into the store, picks some clothes and then he and Gomez head to a bar(or restaurant, I don’t remember). When he feels like dizzy and traveling again, he asks Gomez to go to the restroom with him. And then he disappears right in front of Gomez. But in the movie, he disappears once he gets dressed in the store. There is nothing right or wrong. It’s just different media. In a movie with a limit time, you just need to get straight to the point.

There are also many other scenes that are different from the book. And many details were cut as always. Like about Clare’s mother’s mental problem, and Mark’s girlfriend.

Second, the directing is great. I have seen another movie played by Rachel Adams(The Vow). I could tell that the story is good. It’s the same star. But the movie lacks of a bit of something which could make it a classic. I can’t tell exactly what it is. But I know I wasn’t as moved as I should be or I’d expected to be. They could put it better.  Same thing doesn’t happen in this movie. The story is well and clearly told, which is not easy because of the time travel thing, by the way. I think the director should be given the credit. It’s the director who put the story together, who decided where the story would go, from the very beginning.

Third, the stars are awesome. Rachel is so good. The first scene in the movie is the one when Clare and Henry meet each other for the first time in the real life. Clare knows Henry, but he doesn’t know her at all. She sees him and recognizes him. She is so happy that she couldn’t help it to murmur his name. She smiles toward him. She couldn’t move her eyes from him. Love is in her smile, in her eyes, on her face. You have to believe that she is deeply obsessed with him even if you’ve never read the book. There is no other explanation from her performance but she is in love with him, very much. Eric is very cool. His smile is charming. His experience as a time traveler in the movie is cool and fun(unless the ending). Their connection in the movie looks natural. The emotions, the reactions, the laughing and crying, all seem very natural. No overacting. No underacting. I think that’s what you call a good performance. Apparently, they both have the natural talent.

Other stars are great too. The little girl who plays young Clare is brilliant.

All together, they make it a five star movie. It’s the type of movie I like. It’s romantic. It’s warm. It’s fun. It’s a classic.

P.S. I used to think that an adapted movie could never be as good as the original book, because many details in the book hence the beauty of literature would be cut or deleted. But after I saw this movie and the interview with the screenplay writer and director, I started to accept their concept about book and movie. They are totally different media. They have very different language to tell a story. Nothing right or wrong. Nothing better or worse. They both exist with their own unique, peculiar beauty.

• Leave a comment... (0)

I am reading this novel. Actually I saw the adapted movie first, and it inspired me to read the original book.

Basically, it’s a love story.  Like all the romance, there always is something unusual happening, like car accident, like severe illness, like war, like death…… With all the variaties of unusual things, there is still a different, unique, you’ve never heard of element, Time Travel.

Yes, Henry time travels. There is no specific pattern of when or where he is gonna travel. He travels when he is under much stress, or excitement, or anxiety, or anything that makes his heart race fast, his blood pressure raise high. But he travels as well when he is sipping a tea, sitting at the balcony and reading Sunday newspaper. He travels to places he knew. He also travels to somewhere that he’s never been to, sometimes with total strangers all around him. The only pattern of his travel seems to be that he travels a lot to the place or people or event which is important, unforgettable to him. It’s like gravity which attracts him to it.  It is fun, if you could think it positively. But most of the time, it’s troublesome, or even dangerous. And it’s really embarrassing, because he couldn’t take anything with him when he travels, that means, he travels naked.

Clare met Henry for the first time when she was 5 years old. Henry was in his early thirties. He traveled. You could say that Clare didn’t have a happy childhood. She was lonely. She was worried about her mother and her dad and their relationship. She often spent time after school in the open lawn area  invisible from the house  behind a ridge. Henry was like her spiritual friend who showed up every now and then, helped her solving all kinds of problems, mostly academic, and also personal. Clare wrote down every date when she met Henry. There were 152 different dates, from the first time till the last time when she was18 years old. And Henry traveled from his early 30s to early 40s. Then there was a 2 year gap when she didn’t see Henry at all. Henry told her they were married in her unseen future.

God knows how much Clare loves Henry, not just in the future, but also present.  Clare misses Henry so much when she couldn’t see him. She believes that she is gonna see Henry again, but she doesn’t know when and where.

One day when Clare is 20 years old, she steps into the Newbery Library to look up information required by the professor for the homework of her art class. There, unexpectedly, she meets Henry, younger than she’s ever seen him. She won’t blame Henry for not recognizing her, because she knows this young Henry doesn’t even know her at all. Clare is very well prepared to ask Henry out for a dinner and a long nice talk. She knows he won’t turn her down, not because she is pretty and sincere, but she will be his beloved wife. Finally, the life together with Henry she has always been longing for is waiting ahead of her.

• Leave a comment... (0)