Foreign Remakes of American Movies

Hollywood sucks when it comes to coming up with original ideas. Everywhere you look you find blockbuster movies that are either sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes and movie adaptations of books and TV shows. But every once in a while you find that small film that could; a movie with heart and originality. A movie that is so good that even foreign studios want a piece of that action. While usually it’s the other way around, below is a list of American movies that were actually remade by foreigners! Foreigners I say!

 

12 Angry Men as reimagined by Russians

12 Angry Men (1957) is an indispensable screen classic in the eyes basically everyone who takes the medium seriously. Henry Fonda stars among a cavalcade of great character actors as a juror conflicted of a defendants guilt while everyone else seems so sure. The entirety of the movie takes place largely in one room with each of the jurors slowly succumbing to reasonable doubt.

 

In Soviet Russia, Jury hung you!

While the film was made into a TV movie starring Jack Lemmon in 1997, the movie has sense been retooled and retold by Russians. That’s right, Russians. In 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik, in 1961 they sent a man into space and in 2007 they remade 12 Angry Men in the aptly named 12. In fairness 12 Angry Men was a play before it became a movie so it’s not like remaking it is that much of a sin. Plus in the Russian version, the little seen defendant is an ethnic Chechnyian and the men of the jury are meant to represent different socio-economic segments of modern Moscow which sort of brings something new to the proceedings.

 

Sideways adapted for Japanese audiences

2004’s Sideways is arguably one of the funniest movies of the complex, bittersweet variety. Paul Giamatti stars as a struggling writer and middle school English teacher who plans a Napa Valley vacation with his best friend (Thomas Haden Church) before said friend gets hitched. While there truths are revealed, wine is sampled, women are wooed and the two get into a misadventure or two before the big day.

 

Too much wine can lead to double vision

Based on a book by Rex Pickett, Sideways was nominated for Best Picture that year and was pretty popular among those of a certain age. So it would only make sense that American studios would remake it right? Turns out the Japanese beat them to the punch by making Saidoweizu in 2009 an almost point by point remake. The only real difference between the two movies is its lack of embedded bitterness, which is like, the best thing about Sideways. But while Saidoweizu is more nostalgic than melancholy it does feature fine performances by Fumiyo Kohinata and the always reliable Rinko Kikuchi.

 

Blood Simple remade Chinese style

Now in the interest of full disclosure, Blood Simple (1984) is one of the few Coen Brothers movies I haven’t seen. It is probably one of the largest dark spots on the list of films I’m embarrassed I haven’t seen. From what I have heard it’s the story is about a man (Dan Hedaya) who hires a private eye (M. Emmet Walsh) to tail and kill his wife and lover (John Getz and Frances McDormand). Then inevitably things go wrong. Blood Simple is the Coen Brothers’ first feature length picture and won big at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Awards.

 

A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop or A Simple Noodle Story (2009) however was only in the running for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival which is still an accomplishment though not all that special. Critics weren’t too pleased with director Yimou Zhang’s take on the story but according to Zhang the Coens wrote to him after the films release. They expressed gratitude and were happy about the changes made. I guess when you’re making a remake of such a beloved film, its good to have the directors on your side. Even if the film looks more like an adaptation of Raising Arizona (1987) than Blood Simple.

 

The French do Assault on Precinct 13

No I’m not talking about the flailing, superfluous 2005 Ethan Hawke movie. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) was originally a John Carpenter cult classic about cops and other urban citizens taking refuge in an abandoned police station from crazed anarchists and psychopaths. How crazed you ask? Well the beginning of the film features the brutal slaying a little girl so you be the judge. While not lacking in cheap thrills, Assault on Precinct 13 also had a lot to say about the precarious line between order and chaos and those who seek to maintain and destroy it for various reasons.

See...totally a step up

 

So leave it to the French to gild a lily since they are certainly not known for their pedantic movies. The Nest, released in 2002 features basically the same set up only the place the supposed good guys are held up in is an abandoned industrial park. Oh and the main character is a beautiful Special Forces agent played by Nadia Fares; definitely a step up from Austin Stoker or for that matter Ethan Hawke.

 

Mrs. Doubtfire gets remade in India...twice!

Mrs. Doubtfire, the perfect vehicle for Robin William’s off the wall zaniness was by and large, one of the most popular comedies of the 90’s. It’s a story about a family struggling with divorce that doesn’t skim on the effects it can have on our youth. It also has Williams in drag as a dotty old Irish woman looking to spend more time with his kids by being the family maid.

 

So as luck would have it Mrs. Doubtfire wasn’t just remade once but twice by the same country India; albeit in two different languages. Avvai Shanmughi (1996) is a Tamil film starring Kamal Hassan as the title role while Chachi 420 (1997) is a Hindi film with the same premise starring…Kamal Hassan! You’d think in a country of 1.2 billion people would have at least one other guy looking to get famous by dressing in drag but alas no such luck. At least the two Indian films make up for their lack of original premise by infusing the story with some catchy musical numbers. Oh how we all love Bollywood!

Tyler Perry eat your heart out

 

“E Gia Ieri” is apparently Italian for Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day (1993) has been celebrated in the United States as one of the best comedies of all time. It solidified Bill Murray’s staying power as a comedic force as well as making the celebration of Groundhog Day slightly more than a blip on the cultural radar. Too bad it couldn’t do the same for Andie MacDowell or Chris Elliott.

Could you help me please, I'm seeing double

The idea of remaking Groundhog Day in the United States would be absolutely unconscionable, which is why Italy decided to make a go of it in a remake called Stork Day (2004), because if you change the animal featured, it’s an entirely different movie. Stop me if this sounds familiar: a vain and arrogant reporter comes to a remote area of the world and is unable to leave before nightfall. He wakes up and it’s the same day. And so seemingly forever he goes through everyday being the 13^th of August no matter what he does. The only real difference is the date, location; set in the Canary Islands and subject matter of his reporting. In Groundhog Day it was all about Punxsutawney Phil, the rodent afraid of his own shadow. Here it’s about storks.

 

Men do what with women?!

I Am Sam in India

Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005) (translated as I Am Like This) is another American movie turned into an Indian remake based off of the challenges of fatherhood. This time instead of being sexually confused, the main character is mentally retarded and has to save his daughter from being taken from him. Along the way Sam…er…Indraneel (Ajay Devgan) meets new friends and finds out the true meaning of parenthood.

 

There are actually some welcome changes from the original and overly sentimental I Am Sam (2001). For starters the daughter is being claimed by her grandfather whose daughter turned to Indraneel in a moment of desperation. The grandfather is a good personification of the intention of taking the daughter instead of some nebulous child foster care entity. Also Sam’s introduction to the birds and the bees is never discussed in the original. We never actually know who the mother is and what would possess her to have a child with such a man and leave said child for him to rise. And of course, like with any Bollywood films, it’s a freakin’ musical which automatically makes it better than I Am Sam.

Now it must be seen!