Japan has its own version of Clint Eastwood’s essential film UNFORGIVEN coming down the pike. It’s called YURUSAREZARU MONO and it stars Ken Watanabe, probably best known in the U.S. for his role in INCEPTION. At Daily Grindhouse we’ve been covering this one very closely (see earlier takes here, here, here, and here), because speaking for myself UNFORGIVEN is easily a top-fiver-of-all-time — read my extended take if you’d like — and strangely, the prevailing emotion at its being remade as a samurai film is eager anticipation rather than righteous fury. Most people are down on remakes because most remakes suck rhino balls. But it’d be baldly incorrect to state that all remakes are always garbage, since there’s long been a cultural exchange between (in particular) the Western and the samurai film. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is an American remake of THE SEVEN SAMURAI and A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS is a “spaghetti” remake of YOJIMBO. The former gave us Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn and the latter gave us our man Clint. Blame not the remake when the remake is rhino balls. Blame the remaker. Meanwhile, let’s think good thoughts about Ken Watanabe, a worthy enough stand-in for Clint, and remake writer-director Lee Sang-Il, who is working off of David Webb Peoples’ perfect screenplay (I happen to believe it’s the single-best ever written), hewing to the original very closely by all appearances. I haven’t been able yet to find the name of the cinematographer on the project so I can’t confirm that they didn’t just bring Jack Green back, which would be wonderful. Anyway that’s more than enough out of me — take a look at the newest trailer.
@jonnyabomb
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Tags: clint eastwood, Guns, Horses, japan, Jidaigeki, Ken Watanabe, Lee Sang-il, Samurai, Swords, Westerns
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