redstar00

this is fantastic, deeply moving and wonderfully acted it displays everything which is good about british drama. the only slight concerns was the handling of the deteriorating relationship between sadie and richie which i felt could have been developed a little further. kate ashfield is splendid as sadie though, a particular highlight being not her despair at the sickness of her child but the scene in whihc she skips down the corridor after hearing positive news about her baby. altogether fantastic. though every time i see david morrisey now i just think of gordon brown. sorry

there seems to be a lot of debate about the validity of kauffmans use of himself as a character, the story in a the story methos etc. a few of the comments ive read seem to be scathing of this device. in my opinion this film is excellently written, and the device is quite sound. paul auster uses a similar device in the new york trilogy (city of glass). the whole thing is well versed in cinematic and critical theory and is refferent to roland barthes idea of the death of the author. to write a screenplay about oneself writing a screenplay is also a good way of displaying hollywoods facination with itself, a theme picked up by being john malkovic, and is therefore consistent with kauffmans previous body of work. aside from the arguements about the ending, which i do think is a touch weak, despite the sound theory behind it, i thought the film was also well directed and superbly acted, particularly by nicolas cage, who has certainly crept up in my estimation as a result. it is very encouraging to see big stars who could quite easily cash in with bland hollywood thrillers speniding their time on more challenging projects. tom cruises recent work is another example, as is selma hayeks new film ' frida.

back to adaptation, i woud give it an eight, though gain, it would have been more had the ending been a little more challenging.