been a holiday for second versions..
on friday i saw shall we dance, the american version (after originally seeing the japanese version). and now sabrina, the 1995 version after seeing the original 1954 version a few weeks ago...
i was disappointed by the american version of shall we dance.. perhaps in the slavering attitude of the husbands expected in the west or the missing silent dignity of the wife in the east that made the movie lesser.. or even jen lopez's very pretentious good girlness contrasting so sharply with the natural grace of her japanese couterpart.. the story was the same, the cultures it was set in different.. and somehow it didn't work. it was an interesting experience..
in the second instance, the only difference is the time.. 40 years between the two movies.. luxury is more luxurious in the 1990's with a private jet, compared to the 1950's.. and no one can compare to audrey hepburn.. let alone a mostly unknown actress, julia osmond. i missed the instantly charming smile of hepburn and her expression of youthful innocence.. it came so naturally to her! no one will fall for osmond in an hour.. it's not believable! (i know this from experience, i would never expect anyone to fall for me in an hour. they should be exposed to me for hours and hours and should start to like the non-sense that i am apt to continually spout out, before my charm begins to ever so slowly take effect. but even once its done, it's not enough to make anyone move mole-hills, let alone mountains) but this shortcoming of the movie is more than made up for by harrison ford who takes the seat of humphrey bogart (who by the way is the most bogus actor of hollywood, casablanca not withstanding). ford fully humanizes the role that was performed so woodenly by bogart, so much so that i wanted to tear into the screen and scratch his face just to see some proof of life in him!
i have had 2.0 experiences in my life... how do they compare to the original? there is a baseline to compare.. so that is nice.. when you peak your prior experience, you know its special... but sometimes if the characters don't change that much, the results don't change that much either.. so it is doomed to disappoint.
on friday i saw shall we dance, the american version (after originally seeing the japanese version). and now sabrina, the 1995 version after seeing the original 1954 version a few weeks ago...
i was disappointed by the american version of shall we dance.. perhaps in the slavering attitude of the husbands expected in the west or the missing silent dignity of the wife in the east that made the movie lesser.. or even jen lopez's very pretentious good girlness contrasting so sharply with the natural grace of her japanese couterpart.. the story was the same, the cultures it was set in different.. and somehow it didn't work. it was an interesting experience..
in the second instance, the only difference is the time.. 40 years between the two movies.. luxury is more luxurious in the 1990's with a private jet, compared to the 1950's.. and no one can compare to audrey hepburn.. let alone a mostly unknown actress, julia osmond. i missed the instantly charming smile of hepburn and her expression of youthful innocence.. it came so naturally to her! no one will fall for osmond in an hour.. it's not believable! (i know this from experience, i would never expect anyone to fall for me in an hour. they should be exposed to me for hours and hours and should start to like the non-sense that i am apt to continually spout out, before my charm begins to ever so slowly take effect. but even once its done, it's not enough to make anyone move mole-hills, let alone mountains) but this shortcoming of the movie is more than made up for by harrison ford who takes the seat of humphrey bogart (who by the way is the most bogus actor of hollywood, casablanca not withstanding). ford fully humanizes the role that was performed so woodenly by bogart, so much so that i wanted to tear into the screen and scratch his face just to see some proof of life in him!
i have had 2.0 experiences in my life... how do they compare to the original? there is a baseline to compare.. so that is nice.. when you peak your prior experience, you know its special... but sometimes if the characters don't change that much, the results don't change that much either.. so it is doomed to disappoint.
