I read widely from many genres. Perhaps this blog will feature fewer ratings and reviews, but I certainly intend to write about my reading life - it's the subject I most find myself wanting to talk about.
So I just finished watching the last of the three nights of broadcasts of the Ken Burns-produced "The Emperor of All Maladies" miniseries, based on Siddhartha Mukherjee's book.
Edward Hermann was the narrator. And in the closing images, they gave him an "In Memoriam" credit. I forgot he died. So there's a reminder that this will probably be the last new thing in which I will encounter his work.
I'm a huge fan of Ken Burns' work. He produced this film but did not direct it. However, it is clear that director Barrak Goodman is a Burns protégée. He uses Burns' techniques but puts his own overlay on it. It's like seeing a famous painting copied in a totally different color palate.
As an adaptation, it does Mukherjee's book a good turn. Mukherjee himself is a talking head in all three episode, somewhat reprising his lyrical prose on the "big ideas" of cancer. His work permeates the episodes, but some new pieces are added -- some on-camera case studies that are of-the-moment.
Look, this was a fine film and a worthy adaptation. And I love Burns' work. But why this one was six hours and "Prohibition" was only four, I do not know.
-cg