Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Remake

Somehow I knew it was bound to happen — after all, it happened with Oldboy (although that remake’s currently stalled) — but it nonetheless came as a huge blow to me when I read that Charlize Theron is planning to produce and star in a remake of Park Chan-Wook’s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the finale to his vengeance trilogy.

Now, my particular frustration with this news is perhaps the culmination of previously pent up anger towards Hollywood’s Asian remakes. As a fan who takes their Asian cinema seriously, it pisses me off to no end to see perfectly fine — no, just perfect — films being (poorly) remade just so that an audience who’s too lazy to read subtitles can idle away their time for 2 hours. You can argue that remakes attract attention to the original, but honestly, who, having seen The Lake House or Shall We Dance or some other crappy remake which I’m too pissed off at the moment to remember, actually bothered to check up on the original? In fact, if anyone reading this did, leave me a comment and I’ll give you an e-cookie!

The fact is, the film will likely be marketed as a brutal revenge blockbuster ladened with sadistic violence, completely ignoring Park’s core argument that ultimately, vengeance achieves nothing. No, the whole point of the remake will likely be, “vengeance achieves everything.” So the next time you take the fall for someone else’s murder, you know what you gotta do: bust a cap in his ass.

Twitch Film, JoBlo

Tartan UK Announces Blu-ray Titles

Now that the format war is pretty much over, Tartan UK has announced some upcoming Blu-ray titles: A Tale of Two Sisters on 3/28 and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and I’m a Cyborg, but That’s OK on 5/26. Retail price will be £24.99. I’m still holding onto SD-DVDs for the time being, but I thought some Park Chan-Wook fans might appreciate the news. Oh, and that cover is my own chop job. Not official in any way.

DVD Active

Must-See (Korean) Films in 2008

2008 has kicked off so naturally people are quick to make predictions for the upcoming year. Although this article from The Korea Times was picked up by KFCC’s Hitman a week ago, it nonetheless stands, although I don’t particularly agree the “must-see” status of some films. The first mentioned film is the high-profiled A Man Who Was Superman, starring the sassy girl herself Jeon Ji-Hyun (aka Gianna Jun) and the ever stellar Hwang Jung-Min. The film, which opens on January 31, is largely banking on the image of Jeon, and her newfound image at that — as a seedy, tomboyish producer. But however intriguing the film may sound, it still seems as if the film is garnering attention for all the wrong reasons and the added pressure on Jeon’s performance could prove to be detrimental.

Speaking of crossovers from the melodramatic/rom-com realm, Kwon Sang-Woo is set to take another stab at being a “serious” actor (after his failed attempt with 2006’s Running Wild) alongside real-life buddy Song Seung-Heon, who recently completed his mandatory military service. A Destiny, which chronicles a friendship gone sour and promises a different side to the two pretty boys, is likely to showcase painstakingly grown stubble, zealous overacting, and a continuous stream of swear words. I wonder if Japan’s Formula Entertainment was expecting this when they pre-bought the rights for $2 million.