The Kite Runner
Release Date:
December 14, 2007
Limited release
Movie of the Day for Friday, October 19, 2007
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On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 54/214 |
Max Braden |
One of those good films that just didn't grab me. |
The list of bestselling books in the United States in 2005 is littered with, well, American authors. (Of course, I'm omitting England’s J.K. Rowling, who sits at the top of the list for creating that untouchable boy wizard phenom). There's James Frey, Dan Brown, Rick Warren and even 20-something Christopher Paolini, who released book two in his three-part Inheritance fantasy series.
But the author in the No. 3 slot is an odd one, really. Snuggled between Frey's controversial A Million Little Pieces at No. 2 and historian David McCullough's 1776 at No. 4 is Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, whose debut novel The Kite Runner is not only an international bestseller, but is the first book published in English by an author from Afghanistan.
For those who have yet to play follow the leader by picking up the 400-page print edition, they soon can watch Hosseini's story on the big screen, courtesy of screenwriter David Benioff, among others.
The Kite Runner, which follows the novel's plot, tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, who continues to feel guilty for betraying his childhood friend. Amir, who narrates the novel in the present from his home in San Francisco, recounts his history that occurred during some turbulent events during the 1970s, like a Soviet invasion, mass exodus of refugees and the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan.
The 120-minute film, shot in the Dari language with English subtitles and cast with mostly native actors, is directed by Marc Forster, who has put together quite the string of acclaimed, both critically and financially, films as of late. His resume includes the 2001 Oscar-winning drama Monster's Ball, the 2004 Oscar-nominated biopic Finding Neverland and the 2006 Golden Globe-nominated dramedy Stranger Than Fiction. Forster's quirky and inventive style even caught the eye of MGM, which signed him up to direct the as-yet-untitled James Bond 22. (Eric Hughes/BOP)
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