at the beach, in every life

Now I'm also sad they cast Brad Pitt as the main character because Nanao is a very distinctive protagonist that doesn't feel at all like Brad Pitt. There really could've been more Japanese actors in the movie, considering all the characters in the book are Japanese.

On the other hand, I loved the narrative choices in translating the book to the screen. You think Bullet Train the Movie has too many main characters and too much chaos? Bullet Train the Book has even more characters, and so many convoluted little stories going on the sidelines about them, without it all getting wrapped up neatly into an overarching plot by the ending. So it's even more chaotic, playing into those themes of chance and luck, also present in Nanao being a unlucky lucky assassin.

Movies often have to shrink down a book's plot and cast to maintain pacing and coherence, but it's interesting how Bullet Train went about it by giving a center to all that chaos, so all the characters' stories are linked to Minegishi/the White Death in some way. Basically everyone and everything that's important to the book remains in the movie with a slightly different spin.

I feel like this even gave more depth to a few characters, like the Prince, who turns from a random schoolboy who likes to torture people into the White Death's daughter, a different character in the book who only appears as a giggle in the background of a phone call. It also makes more use of Lemon and Tangerine by not killing both of them off, and of the ladybird metaphor that is present in the book but doesn't take such a center stage in the ending as it happens in the movie, precisely because the book is more scattered across multiple storylines, without one big climax as a finishing touch.

My favorite part of the movie was watching all the chaos connect into a single plot. It's neat to see that's an addition to the story!

"19, ❤️ maryland, ice skating"

I SEE IT