100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 116: A Long Way Down

Director: Pascal Chaumeil

Genre: Comedy/ Drama

Runtime: 96 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Aaron Paul, Sam Neill, Rosamund Pike

Description: Four people meet on New Year's Eve and form a surrogate family to help one another weather the difficulties of their lives.

Review: Former TV Show host Martin is standing on top of a tall building, waiting his moment to jump. Maureen interrupts him, but she has the same plan. Totally in tears and seemingly desperate, the young Jess arrives and she’s in a hurry to end her life too. And pizza boy J.J. is the fourth person to join them. Four complete strangers, different people all with their own reasons, form a pact: not to commit or try to commit suicide before valentine’s day. With this pact an unlikely friendship arises.

The novel is written by author Nick Hornby, who previously had his books “High Fidelity” and “About a Boy” made into films successfully. Hornby is a master at writing books which combine wit and light drama perfectly. Although the theme, suicide, is very heavy, the story never feels like that. Hornby did a fantastic job. Sadly, the movie didn’t do it justice.

The movie is little over 90 minutes long. There is hardly any character development, when the book did this so wonderfully. It’s the books strength and it’s an essential point in the story. You want to get to know them and relate to them, but it’s almost impossible. The story feels rushed.

The actors aren’t the problem. It’s a good cast and they did a solid job. They all tried their best. Imogen Poots is probably the eye catcher, as troubled Jess.

The movie isn’t terrible, it’s average and very watchable. But it couldn’t live up to the great novel by Nick Hornby. The director had the material: a great story and good actors. He simply didn’t do enough with it. Sad…

Rating: 2,5/ 5

50 Books Challenge 2011 - # 43: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

Title: Juliet, Naked
Author: Nick Hornby
Story: Annie loves Duncan — or thinks she does. Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn't. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music ten years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life. In doing so, she initiates an e-mail correspondence with Tucker, and a connection is forged between two lonely people who are looking for more out of what they've got. Tucker's been languishing (and he's unnervingly aware of it), living in rural Pennsylvania with what he sees as his one hope for redemption amid a life of emotional and artistic ruin-his young son, Jackson. But then there's also the new material he's about to release to the world: an acoustic, stripped-down version of his greatest album, Juliet — entitled, Juliet, Naked.
Start: august 4th 2011
End: august 8th 2011
Comment: Duncan and Annie's relationship has become a drag. Duncan is fully devoted to Tucker Crowe, while Annie likes his music just fine but it didn't change her life. They fell into a relationship that quickly developed into a comfortable rut. After placing a review on a fansite, Annie starts having a secret long-distance relationship with Tucker. The book had a slow start and the plot was a bit thin, but I love Hornby's characterization. He always knows a way to create interesting characters and compelling storylines. Hornby is a writer that dares to be funny, intelligent and sensitive at the same time. His style is fantastic: human, with sharp analysis and witty. It's almost impossible to not love his books, although this is so far my least favorite Hornby book. Mostly because it took me a while to get into and it didn't captivate me like for instance "High Fidelity" or "About a Boy" did.
Rating: 3/ 5

50 Books Challenge - # 4: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

Title: A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Story: On New Year's Eve, four strangers meet each other on a rooftop, where each has gone to kill himself. JJ is a failed American rock star, Jess a somewhat psychotic teenager, Maureen a middle-aged women with a disabled son, and Martin a disgraced talk show host. On the rooftop, all eventually agree to come down and help Jess find her ex-boyfriend, Chas. The unlikely foursome end up staying together all night, and meet again in six weeks, on Valentine's Day (the next day popular for suicides). When the press gets wind of their escapades, however, they are forced to reunite sooner than planned. The characters struggle to find common ground and convinced each other, and themselves, that staying alive is worth the trouble
Start: january 18th 2011
End: january 21st 2011
Comment: I finished it in three days, which means that I had to keep reading. Nick Hornby is one of my favorite writers, because of "About a Boy" and especially "High Fidelity". I think I can add this one to my favorites list as well. It's a very dramatic theme, but Hornby combines that with a lot of humor. It sounds weird, but it's true. I liked how every chapter was told from a different characters perspective. I liked Maureen the most and then JJ. I thought Jess was very annoying, I would probably punch her if she were real, but there's always that one character you just can't sympathize with. The parts about here weren't as much fun to read as the stories about the other three characters. I really enjoyed "A Long Way Down" and if you like Hornby's previous work, you would probably like this one too.
Rating: 4/ 5