How do you see the movie working?

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Människohamn
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lombano
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by lombano » Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:08 pm

Aurora wrote:and and lets be honest here a bit of a drunk
I think this is an example of British understatement. ;) He was a proper alky.
Aurora wrote: About the only thing that I'd change about danilma's plot outline is that I'd open in Domaro in the 1980's with Anders and Cecilia along with Hubba, Bubba and their friends all being teenagers and listening to The Smiths. This could be accompanied by a voiceover from a present day Anders saying about how life seemed to be turning out well and how they came to re-visit Domaro with their daughter after they had married.
Problem is, you'd have to include something establishing they disappeared and some reason why they would have a grievance against the others. That could all take up too much screen time.
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by gattoparde59 » Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:43 am

I agree that Anders is the character that ties it all together. This would be a challenge to film simply because there are so many back stories. I like Aurora's idea for some sort of prologue introducing the locals and the summer people and maybe Anders Dad and his problem. The film could open with Anders returning to the Island as a drunk and more importantly as a narrator relating his memories of the people he knows on the Island. Different sights would prompt flashbacks with narration. The lighthouse would appear early on, in both summer and then winter. (cue ominous music :) Once the setting and the characters are introduced then we could get on with the mystery.

What happened with Henrik and Bjorn in the boathouse could be done in a later flashback. That whole scene could be shortened and simplified. Hubba and Bubba get beat up, cut to Hubba and Bubba heading out in a boat "and nobody ever saw them again . . ."

I am for keeping the Spiritus (explained in a short flashback) and keeping the "don't drink the water idea." Simon's dialogue for explaining that has already been written. Standard horror movie stuff.


What I would pay to see would be Anders in Maja's bed drinking his "juice" and reading a Bamse comic book. :lol:

I'll break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by Nightrider » Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:24 am

Whatever the outcome of this project may be I just hope that film version of Harbour will avoid all the clichés and rise above a typical Movie Mystery of the Week. I love that novel too much to see it turned into forgettable video rental.
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by lombano » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:39 am

gattoparde59 wrote:and maybe Anders Dad and his problem
I think everything about Anders' dad would have to go.
gattoparde59 wrote: What happened with Henrik and Bjorn in the boathouse could be done in a later flashback. That whole scene could be shortened and simplified. Hubba and Bubba get beat up, cut to Hubba and Bubba heading out in a boat "and nobody ever saw them again . . ."
Yeah, I think this would work.
The most problematic thing from the book would be Spiritus - hard to do away with it altogether, hard to include it without making it a complete deus ex machina and having it make sense. You could I guess do away with H&B altogether, and somewhat change Maja's rescue, and focus on the 'possessed' aspect.
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by Wolfchild » Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:49 am

lombano wrote:
gattoparde59 wrote:and maybe Anders Dad and his problem
I think everything about Anders' dad would have to go.
One thing that really impressed me about the novel was the way that the day of Ander's big catch is featured twice in the novel, and each time it has completely different significance because of what we know by that point. At first we feel Anders' disgust with finding his father drunk, and later we and Anders come to feel a bit ashamed of that disgust as we understand what was really going on.

The same day, most of the same events, and it hits you two completely different ways. This would be incredibly difficult to translate to screen, but how brilliant would it be if they could pull it off?
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by Nightrider » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:00 am

Theoretically, with a little elbow grease two events could be combined into one and still make it into a finished film.
These passages are just too good to cut.
Last edited by Nightrider on Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by gattoparde59 » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:02 pm

Wolfchild wrote:One thing that really impressed me about the novel was the way that the day of Ander's big catch is featured twice in the novel, and each time it has completely different significance because of what we know by that point. At first we feel Anders' disgust with finding his father drunk, and later we and Anders come to feel a bit ashamed of that disgust as we understand what was really going on.

The same day, most of the same events, and it hits you two completely different ways. This would be incredibly difficult to translate to screen, but how brilliant would it be if they could pull it off?
I was thinking the big catch event would be a possible prologue to the film presented unexplained and then come back to it later in the sense that woolfie suggests here. Different elements of the plot could be tied together.

I'll break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by Nightrider » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:22 pm

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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by shaggles » Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:39 pm

I think the emphasis will be on Maya's dissappearance and Anders descent into the underworld to retreive her. All the background stuff will be dropped. Henrick and Bjorn will probably be there but without the Smiths' references. Elin will not be included. They might add a reunion with Anders, Maya and Cecilia.

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Re: How do you see the movie working?

Post by Nightrider » Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:08 pm

It's a tough road ahead deciding what to keep and what to cut. So many characters that are important to the narrative...
It could be a great film.
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