Imported Movies Can Lose in Translation

America likes it's imports -beer comes to mind- but Hollywood likes to import ideas too. As far as movies go, Quintin Tarantino adapted the Seven Samurai and spun it into Reservoir Dogs. Hollywood has adapted many foreign films and "Americanized" them with varying results. Christopher Nolan adapted the Norwegian film Insomnia as a gritty detective story in Alaska with great performances by Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank. The Ring and The Grudge were both imports with box office success in the states. The Grudge's strategy was to use the same director and it would make the transition easier. This brings me to a 2003 Korean film called Oldboy that was recommended highly from a friend of mine. The film was on IMDb's list for the Top 250 Movies of all time. It presented a great twist and one of the greatest single shot fight scenes of all time. The "twist" was one that turned the film completely on it's head and I find myself recommending it to everyone.

The original Oldboy takes place in Korea and begins with a man holding another man over the edge of a building. He tries recalling something very little... like his name. We're quickly taken through the last 20 years of Oh Dae-su. Dae-su was a drunk, but a joyous man with a mischievous side. One night while on a bender, Dae-su is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel-style room. He is fed three meals a day and his only friend is a TV, which shows the time passing with the news -including the murder of his wife whom he is framed and his daughter is orphaned. As time passes, Dae-su stops drinking and works out by punching a wall. Twenty years later, on the day he plans to escape, Dae-su is released. He tries to piece together who he is now while he befriends a twenty year-old girl Mi-do. As Dae-su is consumed with revenge, his focus is off and he tracks down the men who imprisoned him until he meets Woo-jin Lee, the man who imprisoned him. He asks two simple things and promises to kill himself if Dae-su succeeds: who am I and why did I imprison you? As Dae-su turns over the clues, he fails to see the forest through the trees.

Last month, Oldboy made it's Americanized debut with Josh Brolin and Spike Lee directing. The film has no real desirable location, but it centers with more of a back story on Joe Doucett in a negative light. He is imprisoned for 20 years and set free. The film follows many of the plot points of the original until the third act (possibly because of the American audiences wouldn't understand the simple plot). It's actually unfortunate because the audiences are smarter and better than what they thought. Should you chose this movie, you'll understand.