So, the filmmaker Olivier Assayas makes a beautiful, poetic film called Summer Hours, which ends up among the handful of movies most celebrated by critics in 2009.
It’s hard to find any fault with it. It explores a broad array of subjects – art history, nostalgia, globalism, family ties – and it does so because of its particularity. It is grounded in the experience of a specific family, deeply rooted in French history and tradition, and considers the influence of the European Union (EU) on trends in art and culture. And it does all of this with the help of a cast of some of the world’s finest screen actors, sumptuous cinematography, and poetic composition.
So, then what happens?
Tom Hanks says, “Let’s remake it in America!”
I don’t want to be a cynic. But I felt a little sick as soon as I saw that headline posted at Arts and Faith today. How many excellent foreign films are ignored in the U.S. every year, out-shouted by trashy, formulaic American entertainment? And then, when it’s time for American filmmakers to try their hand at serious art, the best they can do is make a cheap copy of something profound and beautiful. How many times have I heard somebody say, “Wings of Desire… didn’t that have Nicolas Cage in it?” Or, “No, I didn’t see Mostly Martha. But did see No Reservations.” That’s like saying, “No, I haven’t had tried that fine wine you recommended, but I do like grape soda!”
I hope that this project goes away… just like Tom Hanks’ proposed remake of Kurosawa’s Ikiru. (Have mercy!)
Even as I was having these thoughts, responses rang out in harmony with mine at Arts and Faith.
Michael Leary of Filmwell responded:
Is this even really possible? Can the same discussion about art, heritage, and um, the homogenizing effect of the EU, be had in an American storyline?
I answered:
No. That’s not to say they can’t find a meaningful story to tell. But the word ‘remake’ is already a misnomer. And if the film ends up holding a candle to the greatness of the original, I’ll be thunderstruck.
Steven Greydanus of Christianity Today, Decent Films, and the New Catholic Register responds to Leary saying:
MLeary, my question exactly.
And to me:
I’d be thunderstruck too. While it’s theoretically possible that similar plot points could illuminate a characteristically American discussion with similar brilliance Assayas’s film … why would a filmmaker brilliant enough to make that transposition bother? Why wouldn’t he just tell his own story?
Tags: Arts and Faith, Remakes
February 17th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Film professor talked about this phenom in Hollywood, and showed us Godard’s “Breathless” and the Richard Gere remake. Hollywood needs to make the film their own if the absolutely must remake the film — don’t do an actual ‘remake’.
With the success of “Crouching Tiger”, “Hero”, “Chungking Express”, “Avalon”, etc, as well as the support of filmmakers like Scorsese and Tarantino, I am hoping that America will slowly start recognizing at least a few foreign films a year. But I’m not holding my breath.
February 17th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Just an odd aside to Scott, Tarantino loves, loves, loves the ‘Breathless’ remake. I watched on his recommendation in an article I read over a decade and a half ago (geez, now I feel old).
February 18th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
I finally saw the wonderful Summer Hours a few days ago (queued from a recommendation you made awhile back, Jeffrey). Then I saw this dismaying remake news the next day. The monolithic, creatively incestuous, Hollywood schlock industry strikes again.
This makes me think of Hollywood recruiting Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer to remake his own film (1988′s “Spoorloos” (“The Vanishing”). Reworked into the American version of the same premise — same title — in 1993 starring Jeff Bridges. The results were predictably mediocre and watered-down. Actually, I thought that film had a few things going for it: the great cat-and-mouse between Kiefer Sutherland and Jeff Bridges, the stunning northwest locales, and one of Bridges finest performances; unfortunately wasted on a sub-par film. My big problem with the movie was the completely run-of-the-mill characterizations of the “love interests” in the American remake of the story — totally one-dimensional and annoying characters gamely attempted by Nancy Travis and Sandra Bullock trying to rise above the poor script.
Anyways, my hope is filmmaking and film distribution continue to democratize so that Hollywood’s stranglehold, and dearth of creative ideas, continues to erode in the market. Or it forces Tinseltown to start making more quality.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
This reminds me of the part in Michael Tolkin’s The Player where the main character suggests a remake of Bicycle Thieves.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
And then there’s Michael Haneke remaking his own film, Funny Games. I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t comment on how they compare, but making an intentionally inferior Americanized version of his own film just to screw with everyone seems like something Haneke would do.
FWIW, I’m one of the three or so people who thought the American remake of Funny Games was worth watching.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Ugh. It’s “Shall We Dance?” all over again – as cultural commentary set in Japan, the film is genius. All the Richard Gere/Stanley Tucci/idiot American version could conjure is gay jokes.
Bah.
February 27th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Oh, the horror. Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn as the brothers, with Julia Roberts in the Juliette Binoche role? And–I know! We can cast Jane Fonda as the Mom and cross-promote as the sequel to On Golden Pond! With a dark turn when Kathy Bates as the cook takes offense to one of Will’s rude practical jokes. . . I might have been thinking about just such a dark turn when I wrote about the film on my blog this summer:
http://valiantreckoning.com/?p=40