jacvanek: A lot of you have been asking me what...

A lot of you have been asking me what I thought of the film adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I’ll be honest with you…I loved it. But, it’s not that simple.

If you know me at all, you know that I hold Extremely Loud in a special place in my secret heart. And it’s not so much the story that is so special to me, but it’s the character of Oskar, constructed by the words that complete his incredible imagination. Nothing moves me like written words do. And Jonathan Safran Foer’s words affect me like no other. They have a way of twisting and turning and squirming right into the deepest darkest corners of my soul, burrowing in and changing me forever. I keep my copy of Extremely Loud on my bedside table and flip it open nightly to read the quotes that I hold so dearly to me. I do this when I need to feel something.

I actually avoided seeing the film for a few weeks when it came out because I was afraid it would ruin this perfect picture I had painted in my mind of the story. But I finally sucked it up and went. And this is important: you have to go in with the right mindset. You have to realize that the grandparents story will be touched on but not expanded on, and same goes for the Blacks. There are big chunks that were left out…most of my favorite quotes were missing…and they obviously had to reconstruct some of the story to be translated to be comprehensive through film. But you just need to understand that this had to happen. JSF’s story lines are so complicated and complex, that there is literally no way that his stories could be translated perfectly into film without it being an absolute jumbled confusing mess.

So, I went about the film taking it more as a compliment to the book, like a bonus feature, instead of thinking it will be as involved and intricate as the novel itself. Watching the movie was more like giving little presents to the rest of your senses while your brain fills in the missing pieces. You’ve read the novel so you know the story, you know the beautiful things Oskar thinks and feels, so you have to remember that as you experience the film.

Not gonna lie, I bawled like a little baby throughout the entire movie, even during the parts that weren’t even sad but hit close to home via the novel (i.e. Oskar closing his eyes and shaking the tambourine). The visuals were amazing, the characters were absolutely incredible (Thomas Horn was perfect), and it was emotional and uplifting. I highly recommend seeing it, but you MUST read the book first.