Through a random set of happenstances, I heard about a Netflix original film called Death Note. I'm not someone with a lot of FOMO so I don't often react quickly to hearing about a new Netflix flick, but this time I searched out the film and watched it right away, because one of the main characters was a friend of a friend.
I enjoyed it. It's based on a Japanese animated series of the same name, and tells the story of a high school kid who finds a notebook that can cause the death of anyone whose name is written in it. What a great premise–if you found such a book, what would you do? Most of us would burn it, hide it, or maybe even try to turn it into the authorities (good luck with that). But given a protagonist with the right motivations, you've got a setup for a great story.
I was startled, however, to find that the movie was largely panned. What I didn't know was that the original animated Death Note had a large, loyal following, and many of the viewers were unimpressed with this 2017 live action version. I watched the animated version and it's great. And indeed, it has a darker edge, perhaps, than the live action movie.
If you'd like to see a transition from a series written for a Japanese audience, complete with cultural nuances that may be strange for Westerners, to a Western-oriented film, watch them both. They're on Netflix right now.
