Im Sang-soo's remake of the Housemaid is released today. The trailer can be seen here, background information about the production can be found here. I wrote about the original 1960 film here (it's great!), though it seems the Donga Ilbo didn't quite get it in 1960, while the Joongang Ilbo has a bone to pick with the remake. I think it'll be worth checking out, especially if we get to see lots of Seo Woo (who appeared in Tamra the Island).
From watching the trailer, I don't think the remake could have bastardized the sentiment and mood of the original any more, and all for the worse. The original housemaid wasn't "naive" she was psycho! And in a totally bizarre attacting repulsing way. No "natural nurturer" she, the original housemaid threatened the precious bourgie children with rat poison! Awesome~~ The contemporary move towards an "erotic thriller" is so stale, and indicative of a lack of imagination when it comes to the portrayal of intriguing women in Korean film.
ReplyDeleteKim Ki-duk, we need you now, more than ever!
That said, I give serious props to Park Chan wook's Geumja-ssi and Bong Joon-ho's Mother for presenting some truly fascinating non-mainstream, non cliched narratives of Korean women.
i certainly don't mind them making 'housemaid' steamier, but that's mostly because i'm hot for seo woo.
ReplyDeleteYou can keep Seo Woo. I've always been hot for Jeon.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Hanyŏ, but from the descriptions I'm reading, I'm sort of getting a "Hand That Rocks the Cradle" vibe.
ReplyDeletekushibo, kinda, yes. But way better. Certainly it was a precursor to the modern "Fatal Attraction" type of psycho female role we see a lot of in thrillers these days.
ReplyDeleteI'll really have to track it down. If the library here doesn't have it, it should. In fact, I may just recommend it.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, I know of "Fatal Attraction" as a cultural icon, but I've never actually seen it. That could be why I keep cheating on my wife with people I encounter while doing business. Perhaps I should see that as well. I hear it turns out badly, but really, how badly could it actually turn out?
Anyway, just so we're clear, I was not making the suggestion that "Housemaid" was derivative of "Hand That Rocks The Cradle," since obviously the former precedes the latter by a couple decades or so.
American movies and TV shows occasionally borrow from their British, French, and Japanese counterparts quite regularly, from "Three Men and a Baby" to "America's Funniest Home Videos" to "Three's Company" to "The Office." Sometimes deliberately and above board, sometimes not quite so. I've always wondered about the similarities of "Juno" (a great movie) with "Jenny, Juno" that go beyond just the title.
It would make sense that a Korean movie as well might also provide "inspiration" for an American film, beyond the attempts at direct remakes.