'Before I Go to Sleep': Brilliant, riveting and simply genius

After waiting months to see the film adaption of Before I Go To Sleep, based on the internationally bestselling novel by S.J. Watson, it finally happened yesterday. And boy oh boy, was it worth the wait! I was really hesistant on Nicole Kidman playing the main protoganist Christine Lucas (I actually pictured Robin Wright in the main role while I was reading the book...) but Kidman was PERFECT. Colin Firth also was the perfect choice for Kidman's opposite, her husband Ben.

I'm not a fan of radically changing plot points from a novel in its film adaption. But any minor changes made in the Before I Go To Sleep movie were done explicitly well. One main change they made is instead of Christine keeping a diary to record her thoughts like in the book (she suffers from anterograde amnesia and loses her memories when she goes to sleep at night) she keeps a video diary in the movie, which worked out very well. Watching a video instead of reading a diary gave Kidman the ultimate chance to show true emotion. 

The time frame in which the story takes place is slightly different in the movie as well. Christine's son Adam, who she believes to be dead, is a young teenager in the movie but was said to be quite older in the book, at least 21, if I correctly recall. But any changes, minor as they were, were all for the sake of bettering the film. And it definitely worked! Before I Go To Sleep is an amazing novel that was turned into an excellent movie. 

S.J. Watson is definitely one of my new favorite authors to watch as he publishes more novels. Speaking of which his next novel, titled Second Life, is due to be published in February 2015 (I can't wait!) Before I Go To Sleep was released in North America on October 31. Catch it in a theatre near you.