HOME MANCHESTER PRESENTS ADAPTATION, A SEASON OF FILMS REGARDED AS IMPOSSIBLE TO TRANSFER TO THE SCREEN. SHOWING FROM SUNDAY 2 TO SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2020.
ADAPTATION – THE IMPOSSIBLE FILMS
For its new film season, HOME, Manchester’s centre for contemporary film, theatre, and art, is presenting Adaptation, a season of films adapted from novels which were once thought ‘unfilmable’.
“Films, like novels, are often admired for their reach rather than their grasp,” says Jason Wood, HOME’s Artistic Director: Film and Culture, who has curated the season.
“Many filmmakers, either through ambition or through sheer hubris, have struggled to bring to the screen supposedly ‘unfilmable’ novels. The effects can be uneven, flawed, but equally they can sometimes be admirable and lead the essence of the novel into hitherto unimagined dimensions.”
HAMMETT
The season opens on Sunday 2 February with Hammett, from German director Wim Wenders. This 1982 film is about pulp fiction writer Dashiel Hammett and features Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, and Marilu Henner. Joe Gorres provided the meta source novel.
AMERICAN PSYCHO
Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000) adapted from the controversial novel by Bret Easton Ellis, explores misogyny through the worldview of central protagonist Patrick Bateman. The horror film has developed a cult following because of it’s shocking scenes and dark humour.
THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT
It is followed by a rare screening of The Saragossa Manuscript, from Polish director Wojciech Has. It is a three-hour stab at Jan Potocki’s novel; a counter-cultural favourite during the 1960s.
LA CAPTIVE
Belgian director Chantal Akerman’s La Captive (2000), is about an obsessive man who suspects his girlfriend is bisexual. The film is a study of paranoia which certainly updated Marcel Proust’s 1920’s novel In Search of Lost Time.
ULYSSES
If any novel was ever regarded as beyond cinema’s reach it was James Joyce’s sprawling Ulysses. Originally banned in Ireland, the film emulated the feat of the novel by also being removed from the bookshelves. Nonetheless, Joseph Strick’s 1967 film captures a garrulous and gabby 1960s Dublin.
NAKED LUNCH
David Cronenberg was in many respects the ideal choice to direct Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs’s hallucinatory novel, originally published in 1959. Released in 1991, the film is now regarded as a cult favourite. As a result, Cronenberg has a good track record for bringing difficult material to the screen.
NORWEGIAN WOOD
Franco-Vietnamese film-maker Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood (2010) is based on the 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The film is about forbidden love, despair and vinyl records, amongst other things. Anh Hung consequently brings his own sensibility to the project.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Considered unfilmable as the book contains only 10 sentences. However, Spike Jonze successfully adapated Maurice Sendak’s best-selling children’s book in 2009.
Tom Hanks co-produced the film through his production company Playtone.
CALENDAR OF SCREENINGS
Finally, this fantastic selection of films will be playing throughout February 2020:
Hammett (12A) – Sun 2 Feb, 18:10
American Psycho (18) – Sat 8 Feb, 18:10
The Saragossa Manuscript (15) – Sun 9 Feb, 17:00
La Captive (15) – Mon 10 Feb, 18:00
Ulysses (15) – Wed 12 Feb, 18:00
There’s always something going down at HOME, Manchester – have you been yet?
HOME opened in 2015, each day bringing thrilling theatre and dance shows while great independent films are screened from across the world. All accompanied by exciting art in it’s galleries,
Head to HOME to discover new art, new experiences and new stories, from our city and across the world. Because everyone is welcome.