Adapting Orwell into a purely visual medium is tricky since a lot of the characters have an internal life that is difficult to properly capture on film, oftentimes trying voiceover narration to accomplish this. It can be handled well but only for short periods of time. A novel has the luxury of not having to keep the attention of their readers with interesting images before they start to get bored. Too much dialogue and exposition is very tiresome. But Orwell wrote in a very visual style which makes adapting his books somewhat easier and still remain interesting, losing a small percentage of their context.
The story of The Merry Ware (aka Keep the Aspidistras Flying) is about Gordon Comstock and his personal war with the "money god" which brings many men to their knees. He is determined to defeat it by quitting his job at an advertising agency and devoting himself to his pursuit as a poet. Despite the misgivings of his sister and girlfriend Gordon is undeterred and settles into a less comfortable existence and finding employment at a used book shop.
I cannot recall if I saw the film first or read the novel first. Despite Orwell's dislike for the novel it is among my favourite among his works and thoroughly relate to Gordon Comstock. But the there are difference between his literary and cinematic incarnations. The film Gordon is a bit rude and unlikable, whereas the Gordon of the novel is a little more likeable. Richard E. Grant is excellent as Gordon and Helena Bonham Carter is underused as his suffering and patient girlfriend, but Orwell never had a great need for female characters in his novels and wrote them very superficially and without much importance to the overall plot. It is a minor quibble. I quite enjoy the film. It doesn't have he weight and substance of 1984 but the story of Gordon Comstock is very inspiring.
The story of The Merry Ware (aka Keep the Aspidistras Flying) is about Gordon Comstock and his personal war with the "money god" which brings many men to their knees. He is determined to defeat it by quitting his job at an advertising agency and devoting himself to his pursuit as a poet. Despite the misgivings of his sister and girlfriend Gordon is undeterred and settles into a less comfortable existence and finding employment at a used book shop.
I cannot recall if I saw the film first or read the novel first. Despite Orwell's dislike for the novel it is among my favourite among his works and thoroughly relate to Gordon Comstock. But the there are difference between his literary and cinematic incarnations. The film Gordon is a bit rude and unlikable, whereas the Gordon of the novel is a little more likeable. Richard E. Grant is excellent as Gordon and Helena Bonham Carter is underused as his suffering and patient girlfriend, but Orwell never had a great need for female characters in his novels and wrote them very superficially and without much importance to the overall plot. It is a minor quibble. I quite enjoy the film. It doesn't have he weight and substance of 1984 but the story of Gordon Comstock is very inspiring.