Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

I don't know who said 'don't judge a book by its film,' but I've a feeling that he or she would approve of my using it here. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) is a modern masterpiece and one of the few novels that I'd recommended to all, no matter what their regular reading habits may be. It really is that good. The film, sadly, isn't its equal. It's much too bleak; and while the odd humour is there, it's too often buried under the severity of the imagery. Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck once more, this time in film, but it's from arguably his own unique narrative voice.

2½ humiliations out of 5