I have more-or-less recovered and returned to an almost regular schedule. Not that we have a regular schedule in comparison to most people (e.g. we had a meeting last night with someone in Japan), but regular for us. Over the last week and a half, though, I have watched more movies and television than normal. One of those movies was Dune, fare outside my normal entertainment diet but a film I had planned to see for some time. This is a movie based on a book, a book I read and enjoyed.

I was underwhelmed by the movie. Sure, there were some tweaks to the story that ranged from unnecessary distractions to contemporary pandering, but I expected that. Everything just felt rushed. There was nothing wrong from a technical perspective. The editing was good, everything flowed, and the scenes were shot to provide an epic scale. Despite this technical proficiency, the characters and the story were flat. The book contains large chunks of inner monologue for each of the characters, monologue that reveals motivations, desires, and concerns. The movie contained none of that, to the point that if I hadn’t read the book I doubt I would have even been able to follow why certain characters took certain actions (or even who those characters were).

My overall impression was that in changing the medium, a masterwork was made into a good but forgettable piece. It is a common refrain that the book was better than the movie, but maybe this is more a product of the book coming first than any inherent superiority. I’m ruminating on how this concept might affect my business or my life more broadly, but writing out my thoughts is part of the process and one of the less-intended benefits of writing this newsletter every week.