Sunday, March 11, 2012

Man from Nowhere going to Hollywood

The Weinstein Brothers have announced that their Dimension Films will do a remake of The Man From Nowhere (Korean title: Ajŏshi, 아저씨), the highest grossing Korean film of 2010. It stars Won Bin, most famous to Western audiences for his role in the Korean War epic Taegŭkki Hwinallimyŏ (Brotherhood):
"We have always been huge action and martial arts fans and are getting back into the genre in a big way with 'The Man From Nowhere,'" Bob Weinstein, The Weinstein Company's co-chairman, said in a statement. "It's a slick, fast-paced action thriller anchored by a strong emotional relationship that audiences are going to love."
Metropolitician is fond of saying "ajoshis ruin everything." All I can say, considering the track record* of Korean films reworked into Hollywood pictures, I hope someone doesn't ruin Ajŏshi.

* See The Lake House, My Sassy Girl, and The Uninvited. Or don't. Only Juno, an unauthorized and unacknowledged remake of Jenny, Juno (or at least an adaptation), was arguably better than the Korean original.





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2 comments:

  1. Man from Nowhere is a recent favorite of mine, and judging from the YouTube comments on clips from it, it's generally well received by foreign audiences as well. It's an action vehicle and the theme is universal, so it's a good choice for a remake. ON THE OTHER HAND^^, in view of Hollywood's record on remaking Korean movies (and foreign films in general), I'm not gonna hold my breath.

    P.S. While The Lake House and The Uninvited were not spectacular triumphs, they were decent movies overall IMHO (especially the former). Also, if the remake of TMfN is a success, I hope the original gets a stateside release with subtitles, even if it's just for the arthouse circuit (again, not risking hypoxia).

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    1. In hindsight, I think I was a bit too snarky about the American version of those films. I saw the Korean films in Korea, and liked them, but have not actually seen the American versions.

      In their own right, they might be fine films. And truth be told, until American audiences can get used to reading while watching, foreign-language films from Amelie to to Tampopo to JSA just don't get the attention they deserve.

      Still, I'd rather see studios try a little harder to market foreign films first. I mean, JSA makes hella more sense in a Korean context than it does in a US-Mexico border context.

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