Monkey Beach (2020)

Monkey Beach (2020). 1h 45m

“I donu0026#39;t get people who criticize a movie adaptation because it didnu0026#39;t present a literal recreation of a book they liked. Adaptations are things in themselves that evolve from the need to fit ideas, characters, commentary, internal dialogue and spoken dialogue and more into a different medium with many constraints, not the least of which may be budget.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe only movie I know that almost completely follows the book is the Maltese Falcon — good book, good movie. One of my favourite books, Catch 22, could never become a movie that way, and yet I have enjoyed both the movie and the short TV series based on it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe same with Monkey Beach, a book Iu0026#39;ve read and loved at least three times. But I donu0026#39;t know how you could ever put the literal book on screen. And so I dropped my preconceptions about what it u0026#39;should beu0026#39; and simply watched the movie — and was mesmerized.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI loved the cinematography, I loved the music and soundtrack and the non-linearity of the storytelling. I found the movie both funny and moving and was knocked out by how good the acting was. Iu0026#39;m not a huge fan of Adam Beach, but he was perfect for the role of Uncle Mick. Glen Gould perfectly portrayed Josh, a traumatized man lashing out at everyone around him. I loved Mama-oo, and young Lisa and canu0026#39;t say enough good things about how right Grace Dove was carrying Lisau0026#39;s story to its bitter-sweet conclusion.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat can I say? A movie adaptation is like an impressionist painting — itu0026#39;s not a photograph, itu0026#39;s an experience and a feeling and Iu0026#39;m feeling very good about Ms. Toddu0026#39;s impression of Monkey Beach.”