The A Man Called Otto film is based on a novel written by a Swedish author, Fredrik Backman, called A Man Called Ove.
A Man Called Otto was released early in 2023 and it has received somewhat polarising reviews from audiences so far.
One thing that the film has going for it is that it is based on, and follows the same plot as, the successful novel called A Man Called Ove that was written by Fredrik Backman, which earned a place on the New York Times Best Seller list.
About A Man Called Otto
A Man Called Otto is an American comedy-drama film which was released nationwide in the United States on 13 January 2023. The film was directed by Marc Forster.
The movie has not been out for that long, but it has been receiving mixed reviews. Currently, it has a Metascore of 51 and a user score of 7.5 out of 10 on Metacritic. Similarly, the film has a relatively high audience score of 97 percent, but a lukewarm critic score of 69 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
What book is the movie Otto based on?
This film follows Otto, an older gentleman that has clearly grown discontent with life and is now spreading his own negativity around and being unpleasant to just about everyone around him. In true comedy drama fashion, and part of what has likely contributed to the very polarised reviews from critics and audiences, the film has to balance serious themes like death, depression, and disease with moments filled with silly jokes and physical gags.
Although this is a tall order, the film does have a few things going for it. Firstly, Tom Hanks plays the lead role of the down-trodden but lovable Otto, and he does a fair job of making audiences fall in love with and root for the character at the end of the film. Secondly, the film is based on a bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman called A Man Called Ove, which means that most of the intricate narrative was already laid out long before the film even went into production.
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This novel was first released in 2012 and was translated by Henning Koch later on. The synopsis of the book follows a plot that is similar to that of Marc Forster’s film. It is evident that he tried to keep the characters and the story as close to the original source material as possible.
How popular was A Man Called Ove?
Fredrik Backman wrote A Man Called Ove after being inspired by a tale about a grumpy old man who had a fit while buying tickets. It only took 18 months for the book to reach the New York Times Best Seller list after it was released in English in 2013.
Overall, the reviews for the book were mostly positive and critics found the film slightly predictable, but charming enough to recommend. A Man Called Ove has now had over 3 million copies sold after it remained on the Best Seller list for another 42 weeks.
Other adaptations of this book
Before A Man Called Otto was released, Fredrik Backman’s book, A Man Called Ove, was actually adapted into a Swedish film in 2015. This film was directed by Hannes Holm and aside from the obvious difference between the settings of the Swedish and North American versions, this first film also focuses much more directly on the main character’s grief and uses more flashbacks throughout.
In 2016, A Man Called Ove became the third most watched Swedish theatrical film in Sweden of all time. The film has also won many awards over the years, including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
How does A Man Called Otto compare to A Man Called Ove?
Although it is not rare by any means for a book that remained on the Best Seller’s list for over ten months to be turned into a film, it is rare for these novel-to-screen adaptations to go over well with the fans of the original source material.
For the most part, while it is understandable that some of the details from A Man Called Ove would be condensed for the 126-minute film, A Man Called Otto still managed to include all of the most important elements of the story. Critics have commented that there seems to be much more of a focus on Otto’s depression and suicide attempts in the film, as opposed to the book, where these things are just used to show the extent of his grief. However, this does not take away from the overall plot and the people who read the book have loved the film for the most part.
