Movie Review: Kite Runner

Title: Kite Runner
Starring: Mostly unknown actors
Direction: Marc Forster

The movie is based on the hugely successful book by the same title written by Khaled Hosseini. If you have read the book, you will notice that the Director has very carefully followed the book. There are no deviations whatsoever at any point in the movie. The difficulty though is that it is often very hard to capture all that you can in a book, in a film. I suspect that someone who has not read the book, might not enjoy the film a whole lot.

The movie has subtitles for the most part. So I found it a little distracting to keep following the sub-titles. However, it is hard to find fault with the movie makers for this because it would have been awful if everyone in the film spoke English.

The acting standards are pretty high, especially given that there are no well-known actors. The Director does a fine job of bringing out the best in the actors. The actor who played the role of Amir’s (the hero) Dad, and the two kids were by far the best.

I must admit that there was a “desi” feel to the whole film. Not sure if it was the language or the overall pace of the film. There was clearly a tinge of Bollywood masala (fights, dancing, countryside scenes, emotion and drama) to its overall feel (maybe its just me!!).

There a few scenes shot in Fremont and the Berkeley Marina as well. Overall a good film, worth watching though it comes no where close to the book.

Author: Pran Kurup

Pran Kurup is founder and CEO of Vitalect, Inc.

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