A nobel laureate who acts!

So Harold Pinter got the Nobel for literature. I have been hoping for years that Philip Roth would win, but maybe that is just a foolish American dream. Now that someone who writes in English has one, it'll be at least two more years until Roth has a chance. Alas...

Pinter is the man this year. So, to honor him, here's a few of his films that might make up a good festival.

Turtle Diary - Terrible title, eh? But it's accurate. Harold Pinter adapted a novel about two English folks looking for something new in life who decide separately to help free turtles from the zoo. Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley are the low key leads. The script is simple and free of mushy sentimentality. Just plainly, a really nice little film.

The French Lieutenant's Woman - Pinter adapted a notoriously twisting and layered novel into a moving romantic drama. Until Pinter took hold of the Fowles' book, no one really knew how to get it to screen but the Nobel laureate came up with a brilliant device to get the story onto the screen. The movie itself is quite pretty as is the young Meryl Streep acting against a little known Englishman named Jeremy Irons.

Mansfield Park - A flawed, but interesting, adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. Usually screenwriters and directors try to make Austen's stories more romantic and less funny than they are on page. This time, bizarrely, the writer-director Patricia Rozema makes the film more political than Austen's book. What's it got to do with Pinter? Well, just to put us all to shame, not only is he a good writer, the man is good actor. Pinter plays the patriarch of the household that takes in a poor relation, Fanny Price, played by Frances O'Connor. He dominates the household and dominates the film.

Betrayal - A film adaptation of Pinter's play about a relationship breaking up. If you want to get a dose of what actually won the man a Nobel prize, rent this gripping tale of love and, well, betrayal. And, not to be a gossip, but the film is autobiographical. Pinter was a really bad husband at one point.

As I read more and more Roth, I'd have to agree. He really is one of the American masters and one of the best novelists out there today.

The 5th annual Get Real Documentary Film Fest. is coming up fast. It sounds really cool. It's at the Lagoon this year from November 4-10 and the movies sound great. I think everybody should check it out at www.citypages.com/getreal and go!