August 20, 2010

Directors, You Can Thank Me Later

Two recent reads that would make great films:

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
I fell for this book like a bodice-ripper heroine falls for a haughty cavalier. I can envision several different scenarios for a book-to-film adaptation, one of them being an Ang Lee Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style martial arts romance. Swoon.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The collective conscious seems pretty obsessed with work right now, whether it's the lack of it, the search for meaning in it, or the just plain sick of it. (Witness the frenzy over the Jet Blue flight attendant's dramatic exit and the "girl quits job on eraser board" fraud.) Much has happened in the eleven years since Office Space. It's time for another look at cubicle life and Ferris's heartbreaking and hilarious novel could serve as inspiration for an up-and-coming indie director.