Having watched the movie days after finishing the novel, what I think quite successful is the way they used film techniques to capture the spirit of the novel. For instance, the novel is quite famous for its intrusive narrator constantly remembering the reader he's reading a novel, totally breaking down any pretense of verisimilitude. The movie achieves this by having the characters break the fourth wall and interact with the viewers, and using fast-motion to make the action more exaggerated and hence less realistic. The novel makes fun of several genres, like the epic, the pastoral, and you can see the movie attempting the same - the silent movie homage/pastiche - although in this regard I don't think it was as radical as it could have been.
This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
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