Old Boy and the American Remake

Let me start by saying Spike Lee’s “Oldboy” is great. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, even as a fan of the Korean original by director Park Chan-wook. There is a story that’s been floating around that Spike Lee has a longer director’s cut that both he and star Josh Brolin think is better. I would probably see that, too.

So, I’m not here to complain about the remake.

What I am here to talk about are the trials and tribulations of remaking a foreign film. How cultural preferences can change a movie for the worse. The constant comparisons. The successes and failures. How this “Oldboy” serves the original, and vice versa.

From here on out, there will be spoilers.

As a fan of horror films, thrillers, and the like, I find that viewing foreign films is essential. The American film industry has, of late, been a major let down when it comes to horror. Essential viewing of classics is like a U.N. for the disturbed: “Audition” out of Japan, “Cannibal Holocaust” from Italy, “Les Diaboliques” from France, “A Serbian Film” from, well, Serbia. And the list goes on.

Watching “Oldboy” many years ago at the suggestion of a friend, I was shocked. Not only by the now infamous ending, but by the beauty of the direction, and quality of the lead characters.

Park Chan-wook superbly creates a world of unanswered questions and high-intensity action sequences. These are put together is an cacophony highs and lows towards a bitter end. Choi Min-sik as the lead Oh Dae-Su flows through the action parts, and hits you in the gut for the dramatic reveal. Especially in the final scene when you wonder whether or not the hypnosis worked (more on that later). It is an all-around great movie.

As I’ve alluded to, “Oldboy” is built predominantly on the shocking twist of an ending. If you’ve seen the movie, you can skip the next two paragraphs.

Oh Dae-su, framed for the rape and murder of his wife, is held captive for 15 years, and as mysteriously as he was kidnapped, he is given his freedom. With his freedom, he looks for his daughter, but Lee Woo-jin, the man behind his captivity, has other plans. Woo-jin tells Dae-su, that if he can figure out why he was held captive, then he will commit suicide. With the help of the beautiful Mi-do, Dae-su figures out the reason for his imprisonment and makes love with Mi-do in the process.

But this was all part of Woo-jin’s plans, as Mi-do is Dae-su’s daughter. The reason Woo-jin kept him imprisoned is because Dae-su caught Woo-jin having sex with his sister when they were younger. Dae-su spread rumors leading to the sister’s suicide. The final scene is the most bitter. Dae-su, after cutting out his tongue, is hypnotised to forget his sexual relations with his daughter Mi-do. But when Mi-do tells Dae-su she loves him, his smiles fades into a painful wince leaving the audience to wonder whether the hypnosis worked.

So what we have is a tale of Incest and Revenge of the highest order. Like if an M. Night Shyamalan film was good, with a real twist. And when I heard that Spike Lee was set to release a remake, I was filled with glee and dread.

I was happy because of the major problem with foreign films: You have to read the subtitles. I don’t know Korean, and that essentially takes away from the beauty of the film. Your eyes are drawn away from top two-thirds of the screen anytime someone is talking.

With “Oldboy,” that is a tragedy considering the pristine look of the film. Anytime there is a fight scene, you revel in the fact that every inch of screen has your attention. A remake in the hands of the right director could be great if they could match Park Chan-wook’s high bar.

Fortunately, Spike Lee did match that bar. The 2013 “Oldboy” is just as beautiful as the original, and Josh Brolin fills Choi Min-sik’s shoes with ease. The one scene that is lacking is the infamous one take fight scene that was riddled with special effects rather than the well orchestrated choreography of the original.

I was filled with dread because a). I knew the ending and b). I’ve been had before.

The movie is “The Vanishing,” a 1980s Dutch film directed by George Sluizer, it was critically acclaimed, and it still holds it’s weight a quarter-century later. When it was remade for English-language audiences, he took the helm himself instead of letting another director take the reins. This seems like a recipe for success!

But, alas, it was not. Without getting into the lengthy synopsis, I will say that a man, Rex, searches for his missing wife. When Rex finally finds the man who took her, the man offers to show Rex where he put her if he takes a drugged coffee.

The Dutch version ends with the most teeth-grinding ending I’ve ever seen. Rex, after drinking the drugged coffee wakes up in a coffin, buried alive. (I’ve even winced just reliving the moment, seriously, watch this movie). The English version, ends with Rex (here, Jeff) being saved by a new girlfriend, and he killing his would be killer. They make a book, or something lousy.

The English version is lame. It has been called the worst remake ever. It is a betrayal of the original in every way. The original hits you like a hammer, the remake is a soft pillow.

I still can’t seem to see why they went soft on the remake. It had a stellar cast, the director was the same, there doesn’t seem to be a reason why, unless it was to placate an American audience. Maybe they felt American’s wanted something softer, or that they already knew the ending, so maybe just change it up? I can’t say for sure, but the original has 100% approval on rottentomatoes.com, the remake has a 47%.

So I had a reason to be afraid.

When the movie finally started, I watched intently waiting for the twist. Joe and Marie (Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen) have sex about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and you sit there thinking: “Wow, that’s his daughter.”

The bad guy known as the Stranger reveals that it’s his daughter in the penultimate scene, then kills himself. And here’s where it get’s interesting. Joe, unlike Dae-su, doesn’t get hypnotism, he takes the reward (diamonds) the Stranger has set out for him and gives almost all of them to Marie, never telling her who he was, only that they could never see each other again.

He then takes the rest and imprisons himself for the rest of his life in the same room that the Stranger put him in in the first place.

What Spike Lee has done, is essentially the reverse Vanishing. He’s actually made the ending more desolate. There is no reconciliation, or even the possibility of a happy-ever-after. All Joe has is imprisonment and the memory that he slept with his daughter.

The two will be mercilessly compared. Some will stand on one side, some on the other. But they beauty here, unlike “The Vanishing,” they’re both good. For those that are fans of the original, the new version is different enough to merit a watch. For those that have never seen the original, they can watch this “Oldboy” and experience the original later and be just as enthused.

This is a win-win situation. Each has its own merit. And the remake only adds to the original as we can compare them. That he sleeps with his daughter is no longer the focus of the film, but how he deals with his punishment. In Korea, he tries to forget but go on with his life. In America, he puts himself in prison, committing a type of suicide.

There are very few win-win’s in remake history. The “Oldboy” situation is a rare case where one doesn’t clearly top the other. With the “Halloween” movies, Zombie’s flick is good, but the original is better. I honestly can’t think of another case like this (maybe help in the comments?).

The only other time is the 2007 remake of the 1997 Austrian horror film “Funny Games.” Director Michael Haneke created a shot-by-shot remake of his own film, the only differences being in the actors and location.

Unfortunately, neither of them were as good as either of the “Oldboys.”

Thanks For Reading & Please Recommend! Here are some of my other essays on: Bob Dylan, Seriousness, The Rite of Spring, George Harrison, and the Closing of My Local Record Store.