Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Get Busy Living Or Get Busy...


Although there are some exceptions -- and yes I am talking about you, Robert Downey Jr remaking Vertigo -- I'm glad that I pried the stick out of my ass about movie remakes right around the time that Luca Guadagnino put his version of Suspiria into the world. Because I told myself and I believed myself that we'll always have the original thing in the world, so if the new version sucks we can just pretend it didn't happen! Voila, magic! And then sometimes these things don't suck and we're all the better for it.

Which brings me to Oliver Hermanus' 2022 film Living, a remake of Akira Kurosawa's film Ikiru -- a lot of people got really hung up on that! But I'm glad I wasn't one of them because I found Living profoundly moving. Mostly thanks to Bill Nighy's Oscar-nominated turn (he should have won), but not just -- the gorgeous score and Hermanus' camera-work and the supporting turn from Aimee Lou Wood (she should've gotten a Supporting Actress nomination dammit). Point being I adore this film. Here's my 2022 Sundance review. And it's now (getting to the reason for this post) on blu-ray today! Pick up your copy here. I wish they'd release the scene of Nighy singing "The Rowan Tree" in the film so I could embed that; maybe I'll have to go add it to my own YouTube page some time. That'll convince you to see the blasted movie if you haven't yet!

2 comments:

mmmark said...

I thought Body Double was a remake of Vertigo, but maybe it was just a rip off.

Clay Poupart said...

I figure waiting 70 years, changing language and location, etc is enough of distance to excuse a remake, particularly if said remake is actually good.