Watch this review as a video.
Let me begin by clarifying what I mean exactly by a 'book-to-film review'. For me, this is not a review of either the film or the book. Instead, I want to focus on the adaptation of book into film. This is not something I necessarily recommend, as I have often been let down by film adaptations of books that I love. Waiting for a certain scene from the book to appear in the film can be extremely frustrating (especially when it doesn't appear), not to mention having to deal with plot changes and the leaving out of vital information. In short, I often enjoy book-based films or TV series much more if I try to regard them as a separate work of art.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a book about Allan Karlsson, a Swedish man. It features two timelines, both of which are more or less chronological: one is set in present day and moves very slowly, while the other is an account of Allan's past leading up to present day.
The book starts on Allan's 100th birthday. He lives in a nursing home, where a big party has been organized: the mayor has been invited, as has the press. However, Allan decides that he's had enough, so he climbs out of the window and heads to the bus station. Immediately, things start spiralling out of control: Allan more or less accidentally steals a suitcase that turns out to contain a huge sum of money. He then gets on a bus and disappears. The owner of the suitcase, who is obviously none too pleased with this developments, starts chasing him down. Allan meets a bunch of people that join him on his adventure. In the meantime, the reader starts learning about Allan's past (and quickly finds out that things happen to spiral out of control around him a lot).
As it turns out, Allan has been involved in pretty much every major event in history, including meeting several US presidents and European and Asian dictators and the invention of the atomic bomb. For some reason, everything Allan does seems to involve copious amounts of vodka. So along the way, the reader get to know what Allan’s made of and how he has come to be in the position that he is in in the present day.
The film, which was directed by Felix Herngren, obviously features the same basic storyline. It also has the two timelines. The only difference is that the 'gap' between the end of the past timeline and the beginning of the present day timeline is immediately bridged at the beginning of the film. In the book, however, that happens almost all the way at the end. Some characters have been cut from the film, which was no surprise to me at all. I don't think that anyone who hasn't read the book will feel like something is missing. However, I was a little sad that the past timeline was shortened quite considerably, although at the same time I do understand that leaving some of it out made the story much more clean and concise. Besides, European films are generally shorter than massive Hollywood blockbusters, anyway. The actors didn't look anything like what I had in mind, but that is not necessarily a bad thing at all, since I do think the casting was done very well.
One final thing that I greatly enjoyed about the film is the use of languages. In the book, Allan spends quite some time abroad and consequently learns how to speak Russian, English and Spanish besides his native Swedish. In the film, rather than using strange accents or some other kind of weird stuff you sometimes see in films, they actually made the actors speak the appropriate language. (Speaking of languages: a special shoutout to Rod Bradbury who translated the book into English. Great work!)
Overall, I enjoyed both the book and the film very much. I would definitely recommend both, although those who want to read the book should be prepared for a relatively slow pace. The film can definitely also be watched as a stand-alone.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man on...
Jonas Jonasson on...
Felix Herngren on...
Let me begin by clarifying what I mean exactly by a 'book-to-film review'. For me, this is not a review of either the film or the book. Instead, I want to focus on the adaptation of book into film. This is not something I necessarily recommend, as I have often been let down by film adaptations of books that I love. Waiting for a certain scene from the book to appear in the film can be extremely frustrating (especially when it doesn't appear), not to mention having to deal with plot changes and the leaving out of vital information. In short, I often enjoy book-based films or TV series much more if I try to regard them as a separate work of art.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a book about Allan Karlsson, a Swedish man. It features two timelines, both of which are more or less chronological: one is set in present day and moves very slowly, while the other is an account of Allan's past leading up to present day.
The book starts on Allan's 100th birthday. He lives in a nursing home, where a big party has been organized: the mayor has been invited, as has the press. However, Allan decides that he's had enough, so he climbs out of the window and heads to the bus station. Immediately, things start spiralling out of control: Allan more or less accidentally steals a suitcase that turns out to contain a huge sum of money. He then gets on a bus and disappears. The owner of the suitcase, who is obviously none too pleased with this developments, starts chasing him down. Allan meets a bunch of people that join him on his adventure. In the meantime, the reader starts learning about Allan's past (and quickly finds out that things happen to spiral out of control around him a lot).
As it turns out, Allan has been involved in pretty much every major event in history, including meeting several US presidents and European and Asian dictators and the invention of the atomic bomb. For some reason, everything Allan does seems to involve copious amounts of vodka. So along the way, the reader get to know what Allan’s made of and how he has come to be in the position that he is in in the present day.
The film, which was directed by Felix Herngren, obviously features the same basic storyline. It also has the two timelines. The only difference is that the 'gap' between the end of the past timeline and the beginning of the present day timeline is immediately bridged at the beginning of the film. In the book, however, that happens almost all the way at the end. Some characters have been cut from the film, which was no surprise to me at all. I don't think that anyone who hasn't read the book will feel like something is missing. However, I was a little sad that the past timeline was shortened quite considerably, although at the same time I do understand that leaving some of it out made the story much more clean and concise. Besides, European films are generally shorter than massive Hollywood blockbusters, anyway. The actors didn't look anything like what I had in mind, but that is not necessarily a bad thing at all, since I do think the casting was done very well.
One final thing that I greatly enjoyed about the film is the use of languages. In the book, Allan spends quite some time abroad and consequently learns how to speak Russian, English and Spanish besides his native Swedish. In the film, rather than using strange accents or some other kind of weird stuff you sometimes see in films, they actually made the actors speak the appropriate language. (Speaking of languages: a special shoutout to Rod Bradbury who translated the book into English. Great work!)
Overall, I enjoyed both the book and the film very much. I would definitely recommend both, although those who want to read the book should be prepared for a relatively slow pace. The film can definitely also be watched as a stand-alone.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man on...
Jonas Jonasson on...
- his own website
- Goodreads
Felix Herngren on...