A couple of months ago, I found an article in Entertainment Weekly that had a list of the most depressing books ever written. And near the top of this list was Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. So, along with a list of other books I wanted to read, I went to Barnes and Noble and searched for the book. I came up empty, which surprised me because I had long thought this book was a classic and one read in English classes in many high schools. And I know I could have downloaded it or my Kindle, but I’m really about a 65%/35% reader in terms of hard copies over Kindle. And I like to read my classics as hard copies. In any case, fast-forward a month, and I go to a different Barnes and Noble looking for the book and again come up empty. So I texted my friend Sarah, and she told me I needed to check out the biography section and not the fiction/classics section. Who knew? And there it was, along with about 20 other copies of it. So I read the book over two weeks and loved it. It’s my favorite book of 2015. And, yes, I do rank my books just like I do my movies. I don’t blog about it because I watch more movies than reading books.
As great as the book was, Angela’s Ashes, the movie was just okay. As my friend Tim says, he often won’t read the book because he doesn’t want to ruin the film (I know most people say the opposite, which makes this so funny). I tend to agree with him, though. If you see a trailer for a great movie coming out and then you see it’s based on a book, it might be too late to read the book first because you already have all of these impressions in your head. I do not recall seeing a preview for Angela’s Ashes back in 1999. I recall the movie poster, and I remember thinking that there was no way that I would ever see this movie. This was when I chose to watch movies based on how much money they would make. Yes, I was a blockbuster guy. Now I am pretty much the opposite. I love a good story. I love a good character-driven movie. While I don’t want to see a film that is impossible to follow, I want something that makes you think afterward. I’m not opposed to superhero movies (I love The Dark Knight series and the Iron Man series). Still, a new superhero movie practically comes out every month, and it’s becoming rarer and rarer to find great ones. But my shift in movies the past 20 years has completely switched. I still try to see EVERYTHING that comes out, but there are certain movies that I pay more attention to than others.
With all of that said, Angela’s Ashes wasn’t a bad movie by any means. It’s just that the book was an engrossing read, and there wasn’t a film adaptation out there that would do it justice. There was just too much content that had to be rushed into two hours. So had I not read the book, I might have been inclined to give the movie a better score. In all honesty, this would be the right thing to do. But it is hard to separate the two. It is an incredibly depressing story, but the movie made it appear as if it was just sad. There wasn’t the opportunity to delve into tragedies that each character dealt with (specifically mother Angela and oldest son Frank). There wasn’t enough time to tell the story that spanned over a decade into the confines of 145 minutes. It is not the fault of director Alan Parker (Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning). It was just a daunting task. Again, if you hadn’t read the book, you probably wouldn’t have missed all of the parts that felt rushed or skipped over. Parker did the best that he could, which is why I feel like I am a little more generous with this movie review than I want to be.
This movie follows the story of Frank McCourt, who, in 1935, was four years old when his parents moved his family from New York City back to pre-war Limerick, Ireland. Broke and unemployed, Angela (Emily Watson – Breaking the Waves, Hillary and Jackie) does her best to raise five children under the age of five while also managing her alcoholic husband Frank (Robert Carlyle – The Beach, 28 Weeks Later). When Frank works to find a job, he drinks away from the paycheck before quickly squandering the position entirely. He is a disaster, and the family feels the brunt of his poor decisions. Angela has to beg for food for her family. It’s heartbreaking to watch Frank make the same disastrous decisions over and over and over. But it’s nothing compared to the book. Despite himself, Frank is still a sympathetic character in the book, but the movie makes him almost too likable. The children’s acting, specifically the three young boys who played Francis and the three young boys who played his younger brother Malachy, was good.
McCourt’s writing style and imagery aren’t captured onto the screen, nor is his voice. There is a narrator, but it’s not the voice that I expected to hear. However, the score was fantastic. John Williams earned a much deserved Academy Award nomination for this film with his dark and dreary tone. It is a gloomy Ireland. It’s always raining. Everyone looks malnourished. You don’t see a ton of smiles in this movie. Instead, you see a young man, coming of age, trying to do what he can to make a future for himself while also trying to carve out a little happiness.
To summarize, this was a slightly above-average movie that had outstanding visuals and an impressive score. Did it need to be a movie? I don’t know. It seems that all books get adapted into films, so it was probably just a matter of time with this one. If you are a reader and haven’t read Angela’s Ashes, I encourage you to read it and then watch the movie afterward or skip the film entirely.
Plot 8/10
Character Development 7.5/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 7/10 (nothing spectacular here…the various versions of Francis were pretty good though)
Screenplay 7/10 (the adaptation of the book wasn’t engrossing enough)
Directing 6/10 (not enough interest in the characters/stories…completely the opposite from the movie where you cared about so many of the characters and their stories)
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 10/10 (John Williams earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Score and rightfully deserved)
Hook and Reel 7/10
Universal Relevance 7.5/10
75%
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