It seems that in recent years Hollywood has been quick to purchase the rights to various foreign films and churn out their own Americanized version. Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-nominated "Traffic" was a remake of the British mini-series "Traffik;" Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky" was a remake of Alejandro Amenábar's "Abre Los Ojos;" and there are countless other countries tapped for such remakes. However, there is a geographic hotbed that has recently become the source for countless rights purchases: the far East.\nJapan and Hong Kong have long been a source of inspiration for filmmakers because of the directors they produced. Japan produced cinematic deities in the form Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Hiroshi Inagaki. Granted, men like Ozu and Inagaki offer inspiration when it comes to family drama and epic warfare, respectively. But it is the legendary Kurosawa whose films influenced countless directors. "Rashomon" created the multiple narrative storyline which influenced Quentin Tarantino's early works; "The Hidden Fortress" served as inspiration for plot-points in the original "Star Wars;" but it was Kurosawa's soaring samurai epics such as "Yojimbo" which would see a spaghetti-western conversion in Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" and years later in the form of "Last Man Standing." \nAnd then there's Hong Kong action theater alumni Ringo Lam and John Woo. Ringo's "City on Fire" served as the blueprint to Tarantino's debut feature "Reservoir Dogs." John Woo, however, is an entity in his own league. Woo's over-the-top style of action found in films such as "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled" have been looked at over and over by just about any good action film director. Sure Woo's films are unrealistic in that the guns never run out of ammo and the action is over-stylized, but these compositions create a bullet ballet that every action film tries to recreate but few can pull off such mastery. \nBut nowadays inspiration doesn't matter much.\nOK, so there is still inspiration from the old greats who mastered the camera, but when it comes to the current Asian film industry Hollywood is more concerned with just buying the rights to films rather than releasing the original. I'm not talking about films like "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Films such as the aforementioned are so deeply rooted in Asian culture and mysticism that a proper remake would be impossible. How would you Americanize "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" really? Have it about cops in search of a stolen pistol who have the ability to elegantly glide through the air and shoot with precision accuracy? Please ...\nHollywood currently seems fixated on the repetitious horror genre found throughout Asia. Japanese films like "Ringu" and "Ju-On" were remade into "The Ring" and "The Grudge" respectively and all these films feature the same long black-haired, creepy Asian girl who wanders around hallways and rooms killing people and frightening others. Granted, we have entities like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger who kept coming back for sequel after sequel, but at least they looked intimidating. We sure as hell milked those characters for almost a dozen movies each so why not pull the same thing with Asian horror? They gave us the character design, now we'll keep churning out crappy sequels.\nHowever, Hollywood is now interested in more than just horror films. They learned that countries like Hong Kong have been producing brilliant cop/gangster action-dramas. South Korea, the country whose film industry I personally consider to be the next biggest foreign film exporter, has begun making successful films one after the other. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood now seeks to tap into their moviemaking formulas. And Japan? Well, other than those crappy horror films, let's just say their industry isn't anywhere near what it used to be in the golden years -- now Hollywood finds itself looking into past achievements.\nThe following list is five films that you'll be seeing Hollywood remake and release based on original works from Asian countries:
1. "dark water"\nThe Japanese film "Dark Water" has already been remade and will be released in the coming months. Starring Jennifer Connelly, the film tells the story of a mother and daughter recovering from a custody dispute that end up moving into a creepy apartment complex. The result? They're attacked by ghosts and their rooms begin to flood with murky water. The Japanese original was nothing to write home about and one can only expect the remake to contain the same creepy ghost children and boring plot line found in its predecessor.
2. "The Ring 2"\nFor those of you who didn't know, there are already four "Ring" movies out in Japan and while the original was worthwhile, all the sequels proved to be worthless. The American take will of course continue the story of Naomi Watts and her quest to destroy the video tape which contains, you guessed it, some creepy black-haired girl who kills everyone she comes across. And when Hollywood runs out of "Ring" remake sequels, they'll probably just start making their own versions.
3. "The Departed"\nKnown as "Infernal Affairs" over in Hong Kong, this intricately-woven cop-versus-gangster drama is the equivalent to our "Godfather" trilogy. While it is unsure if Hollywood has bought the rights to the entire trilogy, expect Martin Scorsese to direct the remake which features Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Personally, I'll go see it because I love Martin Scorsese's past work, but it's hard to believe they can make the film any better than it already is.
4. "Oldboy"\nThis South Korean thriller won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes back in May 2004. It's the tale of a man who is imprisoned by an unknown enemy, learns his family is murdered during his suffering, only to be released 15 years later and given five days to exact his revenge. The remake is being helmed by "Better Luck Tomorrow" director Justin Lin, and all I can say to this is one word: pointless. The original is simply brilliant. Hell, it's even in the Top 100 on www.imdb.com, and such a remake is just uncalled for.
5. "Ikiru"\n "Ikiru" was Akira Kurosawa's finest hour. It's the heartbreaking tale of a bureaucrat who learns he is dying of cancer and decides to search for the meaning of his existence. And now it's about to be bastardized with an American remake. Currently Jim Sheridan ("In America") is attached as director, but regardless of who is part of the film such a remake is just blasphemous. "Ikiru" is Japan's equivalent of our own classics such as "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane." While one could only hope that such Hollywood classics never see a remake, it's truly depressing to see such a masterwork being remade into something that will never come close to matching the original's artistic and cinematic achievement.
