Second Chance Cinema Claire Gillian
Remake Mistakes? Remakes. We’ve all seen them, for better or worse. Sometimes they are foreign films remade for domestic audiences. Other times they are updates of classics. I want to share a few pairs where the retelling paled in comparison to the original. I won’t necessarily say they failed, but they just didn’t do it for me. Let’s start first with the foreign (to me) flicks. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a purist and tend to lean toward the first-born foreign flick, but not always. Some of the Japanese horror films have been retold pretty well—Godzilla (yeah, chalk that one up to significantly improved computer graphics), The Grudge and The Ring have fared well. These, however, did not:
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) VS. Sommersby (1993) The Return of Martin Guerre tells the true story of a man who steals not only the identity of another but his entire life. He is such an improvement that he succeeds at the charade for quite a while. The man’s wife even welcomes the imposter into her bed. Now that’s having your cake and eating it too. Sorry Jody Foster and Richard Gere, but your Civil War era remake called Sommersby lacked all the humor, warmth, and intrigue that made Martin Guerre so unforgettable. Maybe that awesomeness was simply Gerard Depardieu as the eponymous main character. Maybe it was because the original French film was based upon an actual case a medieval scribe found so extraordinary, he recorded it for posterity. Fact really is more interesting than fiction.
La Cage Aux Folles (1978) VS. The Birdcage (1996) This French-Italian comedy about a gay couple who owns and performs in a night club was in a class all its own. Albin is the star attraction, both on and off stage, who can only be who he is—a flamboyantly effeminate drag (and drama) queen. When the son of his partner, Renato, brings his fiancée and her parents home to visit, Albin and Renato try, but fail, to keep the nature of their relationship under wraps. The traditional and non-traditional lifestyles collide, but ultimately reconcile, when the pretenses are tossed aside. The American remake stars Robin Williams as Armand and Nathan Lane as his partner, Albert, who is also the star performer Starina. As much as I love both Nathan and Robin, the remake did not capture the heart and soul of the original nearly as well. June 2013 | 87