I just saw OLDBOY

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

I had not watched any asian films for about 2 months. But made my return with OLDBOY. I was blown away. Does any one know if they're are any plans for a sequel or a western remake? (they seem to be interested in all asian films lately)

[garycheah]

yeah, i heard about a western remake...but havent confirm

anyway, u might want go check out : Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

its directed by Old Boy's director

another REVENGE film...

[toddwarner99]

one crazy movie Dark yet Erotic.. overall very different than the norm..
I like it.. I dont think they should have a remake.. it will ruin, I tell you ruin the movie

[X-zen]

Yah, oldboy rocks. according to www.lovehkfilm.com, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is actually a third film in the oldboy trilogy by it's director. The first was Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

[magic-8]

Justin Lin just wrapped filming Annapolis, the Oldboy, Holywood remake and the Park sequel is Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, with Choi min sik playing the bad guy and Lee Younbg-Ae as the heroine.

[Brian Thibodeau]

So who's actually IN the remake? I haven't heard much about it beyond Better Luck Tomorrow's Justin Lin handling the directorial chores, and the imdb, ever the bastion of reliability, doesn't list any cast members.

I like Lin's work, but he's no Park Chan-wook. Perhaps he'll make his name with this one...

[garycheah]

there are rumours on old boy and JSA remake...but wat the hec, original still the best

[evirei]

Hemmmm..... I hope the remake for this is a good one. Too many remakes out there is a flop

[illuzionmod]

Old boy was awesome. But to hear that theres going to be a western remake of it sort of makes me sad. Although the ring remake and Grudge really arent all that bad it just annoys me that they feel the need to remake a movie for a "western" audience. To me this genre should really be seen in its original form.

[MrBooth]

I agree... I can't imagine for a moment that the Hollywood version will be an improvement, yet it's the one that 99% of the world will see (of those people that see either).

If there's a bright side, it's that it might encourage a few people that would never have seen the original to track it down...

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

To be honest, the only western remake I felt was on par with the original (actually I liked it better) was The Ring. Ju-On outclassed The Grudge in my opinion. I am very interested in how The Infernal Affair remake and Oldboy turn out. I always thought someone would remake Battle Royale as well. As a HUGE Asian cinema fan I feel lucky to get to compare the two. I seems to me that asian screenwriters are far above Hollywood right now. All Hollywood does is remake films lately. But Western filmakers are able to use bigger budgets and more star-studded casts. Unfortunately they seem to just not get it when it comes to capturing the feel of some of the better asian films.

[MrBooth]

I seems to me that asian screenwriters are far above Hollywood right now

I think it's more a case that Asian film-makers are (usually) allowed to write their screenplays without interference. On any film with a budget above a few $ in Hollywood they'll be straight-jacked by producers, financers and marketing departments who all want to have their say about what a good screenplay should look like...

[Brian Thibodeau]

Unfortunately they seem to just not get it when it comes to capturing the feel of some of the better asian films.

Even worse, they seem prone to copping the visual style with little of the subtext, or even trying to tease out new subtext by relocating the action to another culture. DARK WATER comes to mind, particularly how much more resonant - and sad - the central and ongoing indignity suffered by the mother was in the Japanese original when you view it in context of a patriarchal society that hasn’t often used the media to examine the plight of divorced, single mothers, themselves a more recently acknowledged and de-stigamtized concept in many Asian cultures than they are in the west.

In North America, the United States in particular, the rule rather than the exception seems to be movies in any genre that feature ruptured families, single dads, single moms, etc, whether they’re played for laughs, drama, horror, etc, and all in the service of providing lazy screenwriters with the pre-cut pieces needed to wrap up just about any story with the re-establishing of the family unit - in one form or another - in the final act.

In western media culture, where such a dysfunctional dynamic has been presented as the norm, or at least an acceptable alternative to the traditional family unit, for the better part of a quarter century (as well it should, I say!), a film like Walter Salle’s DARK WATER loses much of its potential punch because the central characters are simply too familiar from countless other movies. To see these issues dealt with from the perspective of filmmakers from another country makes for fascinating viewing.

I’m really curious to see the remakes of INFERNAL AFFAIRS and OLDBOY as well, the latter if only to see if they’ve got the stones to keep the Big Twist (and its attendant precursory sex scenes) intact. But my expectations for both are low, despite the talent involved.

To date I’ve been no more impressed with the remakes of Asian films any more than I was with the late-80’s/early 90’s cycle of remakes of Euro comedies that quickly played itself out, but that's just me, of course. THE RING remake completely blew its Big Finale with pointless visual trickery, THE GRUDGE pointlessly cast Big American Names which automatically forced audience preconceptions into play where the original, even to Japanese audiences, was not so keen to trade on Star Power (at least the remake retained the Japanese setting to some positive effect). DARK WATER, despite my comments above, did find at least some new subtext inherent in the concept (namely by casting the same actress as the ghost AND the young version of the lead character in flashbacks), but dialed down the sense of dread and suspense to the point of inertia, ending with an anti-climactic “reveal” that couldn’t match the brilliant construction of the same sequence in the original. And the American Ring 2? Well, that was basically a remake of DARK WATER too, so ‘nuff said.

Still waiting for them to start trotting out the remakes of all those Korean comedies they snatched up the rights to over the last few years (MY SASSY GIRL, MY WIFE IS A GANGSTER, HI DHARMA, and others).

[ewaffle]

I agree... I can't imagine for a moment that the Hollywood version will be an improvement, yet it's the one that 99% of the world will see (of those people that see either).

If there's a bright side, it's that it might encourage a few people that would never have seen the original to track it down...

I must agree--The remake would be barely recognizable. The content of the twinned shocking events will have to be made more acceptable to mainstream American audiences so much of the edginess would be missing. It would no longer have the shock of recognition that the protagonist and audience have at the same time so the sense of horror would be muted.

"Oldboy" is a powerful movie. Hollywood recognizes cinematic gold when they see it but insist on turning into lead.