Creatively adapting

So many great films on at the moment that it’s difficult to fit them all in. Couldn’t decide whether to see Adaptation or The Hours this weekend so we bought tickets for both. Saw Adaptation late tonight at the Odeon Studio in Richmond and loved it to pieces. The scene in which panicky screenwriter Charlie Kaufman sits staring at his typewriter racking his brains for what to do is perfect: “Perhaps I should have coffee? That might help. No, I should write something first and then reward myself with coffee…” I also liked the fact that in that scene his electric typewriter is positioned not on a table but a chair, at what looks like a very uncomfortable angle, accentuating the difficulty he’s experiencing connecting with the act of writing. From the point of view of even an amateur writer like myself, the film is extremely inspiring and reassuring because it makes you laugh at your own dismal situation, a bit like Woody Allen does with relationships. I came out thinking anything was possible, which is surely the best feeling any work of art can produce in its audience.