Where have I heard that one before?
Take a read at this description of Lake House, a movie starring Sandra Bullock ("Love Potion No. 9") and Keanu Reeves ("Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure") which opens June 16 in the United States:A lonely doctor (Sandra Bullock) who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its newest resident, a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover that they’re actually living two years apart, they must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it’s too late.
If this sounds familiar, it's because this movie is an America version of Jun Jihyun's Korean hit Il Mare (in Korean, Shiworae, 시월애, which does not mean "October Love," despite one Arirang presenter's gaffe):Eunju moves out of her house "Il Mare", leaving behind a Christmas card for the eventual new owner of the house in 1999. In it she asks him/her to forward any mail of hers to her new address in the city. It is 1997 and Sunghyun, the first owner of "Il Mare" is moving in and finds in his mailbox the Christmas card from Eunju. Thinking it was a joke, Sung-hyun leaves her a letter telling her so and reminds her that it's 1997 not 1999. Eventually the two realize that they are separated by two years of time but can somehow communicate through the mailbox and begin to form a friendship through their letters.
No, Hollywood did not rip off Korean cinema. Rather, they did what Korean carmakers have doing for years: they paid the licensing fees to remake somebody else's stuff as their own. In fact, Hollywood has been doing this for years with French and other European films (and not a few television shows), and lately with Japanese, Korean, and other Asian cinema.
Take a read at this description of Lake House, a movie starring Sandra Bullock ("Love Potion No. 9") and Keanu Reeves ("Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure") which opens June 16 in the United States:
No, Hollywood did not rip off Korean cinema. Rather, they did what Korean carmakers have doing for years: they paid the licensing fees to remake somebody else's stuff as their own. In fact, Hollywood has been doing this for years with French and other European films (and not a few television shows), and lately with Japanese, Korean, and other Asian cinema.
When I first moved to Korea in the early 90s, I was warned by Koreans and expats that Korean movies were boring and poorly made. Save for the happy ending, I thought Il Mare was a great movie. It's too bad Americans avoid foreign flicks and see only the handful remade in Hollywood. Do you think the screen quota has been a factor in the development of Korean cinema?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first moved to Korea in the early 90s, I was warned by Koreans and expats that Korean movies were boring and poorly made.
ReplyDeleteFor all the chest-thumping pride that the K-blogosphere makes out that Korea has, I can't even begin to count how many times I'd heard Koreans tell me they think Korean cinema is sub-par.
Save for the happy ending, I thought Il Mare was a great movie.
So you think that Il Mare should have ended with the guy being calimari?
It's too bad Americans avoid foreign flicks
I always thought it was mostly to do with a lack of tolerance for reading subtitles. If that's the case, that's a pathetic statement on American society.
and see only the handful remade in Hollywood.
The thing is, I wonder if it're really just a handful. I think there are many we don't know about. For every "Grudge," where the Japanese connection is hyped along with the movie, there is a "Three Men and a Baby" or a "Lake House" where people are just not aware. The rights-to-the-American-remake deals are made one or two years (or more) before the flick comes out in the States, and by then it's mostly forgotten.
Do you think the screen quota has been a factor in the development of Korean cinema?
Yes, but not in the way most people think. I think they threat of its removal suddenly freaked everyone in Chungmuro (Korea's Hollywood) to the point that they realized they were going to have to compete for eyeballs, and that forced a shake-up in the way movies were put together and the attitudes that dicatated the importance of quality, innovation, and figuring out what the audience wants (which wasn't always melodramatic endings...oh, how many otherwise good films were ruined by melodramatic endings by directors, writers, or producers who simply didn't know how to finish a good story?).