A small note about the TV movie „The Joshua Profile“:
Readers of the book who have the time and inclination to watch the film adaptation on RTL today, Good Friday, at 8:15 PM, will notice significant deviations from the novel.
(Anyone who is now saying, „Thank God. Then it can only get better!“ doesn't need to read further and will be unfriended by me immediately ;))
Everyone who thinks, „That's a shame“ has no reason to worry.
Because the – admittedly noticeable – changes are not a disadvantage in my eyes.
Screenwriter Jan Braren (who wrote „Homevideo,“ for which he received the Grimme Award, for example) has created a completely independent and exciting work here without betraying the emotional focal points of the novel that are important to me. (I'll just mention „Cosmo“ and „The Blood School.“)
In my opinion, every reader is the best director for their own internal cinema anyway. It's very difficult for the images someone presents to me to top my own imagination.
But the fact that you can't fully tell a highly complex 400-page story in 100 minutes also necessitates compression and cuts. And that's where the domino effect begins. If you change even a tiny building block in such a dense plot at the front, it has a chain reaction for the overall story.
Additionally, „The Joshua Profile“ is designed for a possible continuation should you enjoy the film. (Don't worry, everything is resolved, and the film doesn't end with a nasty cliffhanger.) Therefore, some plot threads from the novel are still omitted, and other elements had to be reinvented. (So, for example
Example of a scene where a hopeful, sexy young actor with the somewhat strange name „Sebastian Fitzek“ will be seen as a bookseller :))
Regarding „sexy booksellers“ - anything too explicit also had to be adapted for youth protection reasons.
To be honest: anyone who scrutinizes every single scene with the novel in hand might be disappointed. However, those who approach the film with an open mind, as a standalone, exciting movie, are likely to experience a gripping ride through a summer in Berlin.
Brilliantly acted by Torben Liebrecht as Max Rhode, Inez Bjørg David as Frida, and Armin Rohde as Toffi, among others. Directed by none other than Oscar winner Jochen Alexander Freydank.
Have a lot of fun!!!
PS: Also, the great David Nathan – one of my favorite German voice actors and audiobook narrators (Johnny Depp, Christian Bale) – also took on a small but important role with the father of Max and Cosmo.
