Swedish Classic remade as "A Man Named Named Otto

 Tom Hanks is a well respected film maker and was smart enough to remake an enjoyable Swedish film, "A Man Called Ove" (2015).  Remakes are tested and generally able to find an audience.   The Americans do a great job, even updating a few elements and adapting to the American market.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/07/a-man-called-ove.html  Film makers are anxious to get us back into theatres where they can display their talent and technology.  They still raise the needle of our enjoyment.

The basic story is about a grumpy old man who is distraught over his wife's death.  He calls most of his acquaintances "idiots".  His new neighbors including an immigrant woman and her native husband are annoying and they get off on the wrong foot.  But the immigrant is persistent and gives him some of her native food as a gift.  He ignore the gift for awhile, but gives into his hunger is finds it very tasty

One character we might expect Otto to belittle would be transgender.  The transgender male, Malcolm had delivered a paper to Otto, but first he explained that Otto's wife Sonya had been his teacher and had been kind to him.  Otto showed no hesitation in accepting Malcolm and included him in future interactions.

Both films used attitudes towards cars to differentiate people.  The conservative self righteous Ove or Otto made judgments.   In Sweden, Ove was a supporter of Saab while his friend was always buying a Volvo.  In America the choice was Chevrolet vs Ford, but the worst folly in Otto's eyes was imported cars such as Toyota and Volkswagen.  My father  who drove for a living and had won Car rallies told me that the best car he ever drove was a Saab.

Both films depict immigrants as life enhancers for the rest of us.  In the Swedish version they were able to enlist a trained actress from Iran.  The Americans who seem to be concerned about too many Mexicans crossing the border are confronted with a Mexican who adds spice to life.

 A great cast and crew put together a worthy remake.

Tom Hanks spends more time producing than acting.  He manages to combine both disciplines with this film.  He did not get involved in acting until after floundering in efforts in college when a community theatre.  His first film was "Splash" (1988) under Ron Howard and was a box office success.  Another film that propelled him forward was "A League of Their Own" (1992) followed shortly with "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) and "Philadelphia" (1993) for which he won an Oscar.  "Forest Gump" (1994) won him another Oscar and was a global box office hit.  In 1996 he got into directing with "That Thing That You do" (1996).  In 2002 he became the youngest actor to win the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.  His film credits include:   "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "Castaway" (2000), "Saving Mr. Banks" (20130, "Bridge of Spies" (2015),"Sully" (2016), "and "The Post" (2017).   Check a post of an earlier Tom Hanks movie:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/05/bridge-of-spies.html           

Rita Wilson, also shared producing duties and in addition helped write and sing one of the songs.  She started acting with an episode of "The Brady Bunch"  (1972).  She acted in various tv shows, and after two appearances in films with Tom Hanks, started dating and married in 1988 with a Greek wedding.  She produced "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002) having helped the lead actress and script writer Nia Vardalos the contract becoming a huge money maker.  She starting recording songs in 2012 including songs she wrote.  Her film credits include:  "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), "Larry Crowne" (2011) and six episodes of "The Good Wife" (2011-2014).

Marc Forster, the director and executive producer had been born in Germany, but raised in Switzerland,   He attended the New York University to study film.  He directed Halle Berry to an Oscar in "Monster's Ball" (2001).   His film credits include "Stranger than Fiction" (2006) and "The Kite Runner" (2007).

David Magee wrote the script.  Film credits include "Life of Pi" (2012).

Fredrik Backman, a favorite writer from Sweden wrote the original book "A Man Called Ove"  He was a film producer for another of his books "Anxious People" (2021).  A post for his latest book with links to his other books:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/11/the-winners.html:   

Mariana Trevino played Marisol, the Mexican immigrant that coaxed Otto into a more relaxed lifestyle.  She has been in over 30 films, mostly in Spanish and from Mexico. 

Rachel Keller played Sonya in flashbacks that lightened  up Otto.  Rachel's acted in "Fargo" (2015) the tv. series.        

Much as I admire Tom Hanks I feel that Rolf Lassgard is the more credible not only as a grumpy old man  but as a jovial bumpkin.  In my favorite film, "After the Wedding" (2006) he was also very credible as fast talking business man.  A Swedish native, Rolf has performed in Danish and Norwegian.  Rolf also played Wallander in the tv. series that has been adapted in other nations.

Bahar Pars plays the persistent neighbor who opens up Ove.  She was born in Iran and her family moved to Sweden after the Iran Iraq War.  She trained to be an actress who who has performed on stage, television and films.

Ida Engvoll played Sonja, the wife seen only in flashbacks.  Ida's film credits include "The Bridge" (2015) and as the lead character for "Rebecka Martinsson" .

Remakes of movies are a recognition of something worth viewing.  If you enjoyed either one you will not be disappointed if you get a chance to watch the other.  Tom Hanks is a strong indicator of something worth watching.  The Swedes have a long film tradition that has enriched the world and their film is a good example.

Telegu Remake Opens My Eyes

A confession.  A disease or addiction affects my blogs.  Not content with watching a film, my computer, music collection and household chores vie for my limited attention.  Occasionally some subtle point in a film might get missed.  Sometimes I might never catch on to the missing details, but sometimes with a little luck my awareness is expanded.

 Recently a remake of masterful original film made me conscious that paying attention does pay off.  Multi tasking is a risky, but hard to discard habit and I am aware of that.  The Telegu film industry was impressed by a very profitable Bollywood movie, "Andhadhun" (2018) and decided to make a project of converting the script from Hindi to Telegu. The remake, "Maestro" (2021) convinced me the original was better than I had acknowledged.  Watching a familiar movie a subsequent time usually yields deeper understanding and appreciation and this worked well for me.  Both are available on Netfllix.

The original inspiration was a 14 minute French film, "L'accordeur" (The Piano Tuner 2010) written and directed by Olivier Treiner about a pianist who despairs and becomes a piano tuner.  He pretends to be blind so that he can gain better understanding of his customers.  As a blind man he sees things he shouldn't. 

Why would anyone pretend to be blind?  Even the explanation seems weak.  A musician felt he would focus better.  Under his guise in quick succession he witnesses two murders, but maintains his pretense in a quick response (don't worry it is all subtitled).  In short order there was another twist (one that I missed) that complicated the plot which not only involved staying alive, but also a little romance.  The complications result in more twists and you are constantly wondering when it will unwind.  Very enjoyable journey.

It is comedic, but often in a macabre sense, apparently inspired by "Fargo" (1996).   It begins in mysterious fashion that seems unrelated to what you anticipate.  It becomes a thriller with lots of twists.  It does eventually tie into the main thread and will jog your memory a bit.  

A charitable cause, organ donations, weaves naturally into the plot (more so with "Maestro") and hopefully make you aware of a great need.  My father-in-law had one friend who had frightening heart problems that worried the friend's brother as well as my father in law.  Ironically with a heart transplant he outlived the two worriers and enjoyed another grandchild.   Inspired me to sign the donor line on driver's license. 

The strength of both films are the people behind them.  Obviously an overlap of writers is a key factor, but the Telegu film makers were prepared to take advantage of the Bollywood groundwork.

Sriram Raghavan with a writing crew including Pooja Ladha Surti, Hermanth M. Tao, Yogesh Chandekar and Arijit Biswas all of whom also worked on "Maestro".  Additional experienced writers, Merlapaka Gandhi and Sheik Dawood G. were brought in for the Telegu version.  Sriam wrote and directed " Ek Hasina Thi" (2004), "Agent Vinod" (2012) and "Badlapur" (2015).

Ayushmann  Khurrana was not the first choice for the lead role of Akash in "Andhadhun", but he was exceptionally suited.  He has great comic timing and some musical experience.  He had appeared in some good socially relevant movies such as "Vicky Donor" (2012), "Dum Laga Ke Haish" (2015), "Shubh Mangal Savdhan" 2017) and has gone to do "Badhaai Ho" (2018) and "Article 15" (2019).   Ayushmann praticised piano under the guidance of Akshay Verma for two months.  Check more:http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/12/ayushmann-khuranna-actor-to-watch.html

Tabu plays Simi, the adulterous murderer.  Seen as very strong woman in such films as "Maqbool"  (2003),"Fanaa" (2006), "Drishyam"(2015) and "Talvar" (2015).  But she also illustrated a deft comic touch in such films as "Cheeni Kum" (2007).  She with Irrfan Khan was a winner of an award for "Best Seduction" in the American film, "The Namesake" (2006).  There is an easy to miss reference to her Lady MacBeth role.  Check for more at:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/12/tabu.html

Radhika Apte played the romantic interest.  She graduated with a degree in Economics and Mathematics.  She began acting in theatre and moved into film.  She has performed in Hindi, Bengali, Telgu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and English (where she spoke some French).  Her films include "Lion" 2015), "Manjhi:  The Mountrain Man" (2015), "Pad Man" (2018), "Sacred Games" (2018),  and "A Call to Spy" (2019)

Merlapaka Gandhi directed the Telegu version for his second effort.  He was better established as a writer for the Telegu market and was also involved with script additions to "Maestro".

Nithin plays the piano player Arun.  His father was Sudhakar Reddy, a noted Telegu film producer.  He has been in films since 2001.

Tamannaah Bhatia has appeared in "It's Entertainment" (2014), the block buster, "Baahubali:  The Beginning" 2015) and Baahubali 2:The Conclusion" (2017).   She has appeared in Telegu, Hindi and Tamil films.

Nabha Natesh plays the love interest Sophie.  She has appeared in Kanada and Telegu films.

Which of these two is better?  They are both very enjoyable to watch.  I admit I am a very big fan of both Ayushman Khurrana and Tabu and have been noticing Radhika Apte as she builds her career including in English.  Also one of my favorite songs from my favorite male singers Arijit Singh appear at the end.  On the other hand  Maestro has the advantage of the same crew of writers plus a few additional Telegu scripters to add in their own twists.  You can't go wrong. 

Remakes are a fairly common way of reducing risks in the expensive film making business.  Some earlier blogs on some good examples.

Ayushmann has experienced one of his movies being remade as in:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/vicky-donor-cf-dharala-prabhu.html    

Bollywood gets some of its most profitable ideas from the regional markets as in:   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/arjun-reddy-and-kabir-singh.html

Personally multi-tasking has its limitations.  That is the problem in today's world; there are too many interesting and even important things to pay some attention to.  I apologize for having slighted some things I have blogged about, but will continue to try to cover a wide range of interests.

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECTION REMAKE OF A MASTERPIECE

Remakes of successful movies are favored by some marketing experts, but pose a bit of a challenge to creative people who don't want to be seen as copy cats.  "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) left a strong impression on my adolescent mind.  I was impressed by Charles Laughton's elocution as well as Marlene Dietrich and even Tyrone Power.  But the biggest impression was from the clever plot.  It was the first time for me that a guilty person could get off by having a witness willing to lie and then set up a lack of credibility of the same witness.   It also left an impression of sophistication.

In 2016 a British tv. version came out and recently I had a chance to see it.  My memory was a little foggy on details, but a few were spotted very easily.  There were many scenes of English sophistication, but there were also striking contrasts of a grubby lower class.  Instead of the eloquent Charles Laughton was Toby Jones in many ways as a pathetic lawyer with health and personal problems.  Laughton was under medical supervision, (with his real life, Elsa Lanchester playing a fussy nurse who annoyingly reminded him to take pills and to avoid stress).   He also used a chair lift.  Toby had a persistent cough that was attributed to wartime experiences.

Never read the book or the play as originally written by Agatha Christie.  Her books have  been masterpieces of plotting and character development.  Both of these versions illustrate that, but they are certainly different so somebody has used some creative license.

My memory failed me on British legal practices, but the script worked out.  Charles Laughton was prominent as the barrister, while Toby Jones was the focus as a solicitor.  In Britain there is a distinction between the person known as a Solicitor who does the legal research and background checks to the person known as a Barrister who defends the accused in court,   One set of writers may have felt the Barrister is the one who the public sees and if you have Charles Laughton with his beautiful elocution available it is a perfect match.  The more recent adapter may have felt this was an opportunity to be creative and focus on the solicitor who initiated the case and sought out someone like Toby Jones, versatile actor.

The endings were dramatically very different.  SPOILER ALERT (hopefully anyone reading this has seen at least one of the two films)  In the earlier version we see after the verdict is announced that the witness had misled and the accused really was guilty.  A murder followed when it was revealed the accused had another lover and Charles Laughton offered to defend Marlene Dietrich.  In the updated version the innocent verdict soon gives the accused an inherited fortune.  BUT Toby Jones feels justice can only be served if the guilty person is punished and he "proves" the maid killed her employer.   Later Toby chances upon the formerly accused living in luxury with the misleading witness/lover.  They soon let him know how he and the court were fooled and this upsets Toby who feels he sent an innocent woman to be executed. Instead of the guilty party suffering, the remoreseful solictor is seen walking into the ocean

Agatha Christie is the original genius that others exploited.  Noted for plot twists often making the least likely the guilty culprit.  "The Mousetrap" became the longest running play in history  Her book sales are only surpassed by the Bible and William Shakespeare.  She represents a mammoth challenge to anyone tampering with her plot twists.

Billy Wilder was the director and co-writer- of the 1957 version.    He was a prolific award winner, including 6 Oscars and many nominations) as director, writer and producer.  Born in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire he was a reporter in Austria who switched to Berlin where he was able to write scripts for some German films.  As a Jew he recognized the evil of Adolf Hitler and fled in 1933.  He spoke no English, but did end up in Hollywood where he was able to prove himself.  His films include;  "The Major and the Minor" (1942), "Double Idemnity" (1944), "The Lost Weekend" (1945), "Sunset Boulevard" (1950),  "The Apartment" (1960) and  "One, Two, Three" (1961).  He was Oscar nominated as best director while the film had 5 other nominations, but no winners. A quote:  "I was not a guy writing deep-dish revelations.  If people see a picture of mine and then sit down and talk about it for 15 minutes, that is a very fine reward, I think."

Harry Kurnitz, a co-writer shared nomination with Billy Wilder for an Edgar Allan Poe award.   Harry was also credited with a 1982 tv version of "The Witness for the Prosecution" with Diana Rigg, Ralph Richardson and Beau Bridges.   John Gay was the principle adapter and received
nominations for the Edgar Allan Poe award for his version.

Lawrence B Marcus, the third co-writer was credited as adapting  both the 1957 and 1982 versions

The director for the 2016 version, Jullian Jarrold had earlier directed "Kinky Boots" (2005), "Becoming Jane" (2007) and "Brideshead Revisited" (2008).

Susan Phelps is credited with adapting the 2016 version which won an award from the Writers Guild of Britain.  She also was an executive producer.  She has involved in the writing of a number of Agatha Christie books into tv series, including "And Then There were None" (2015), "Ordeal by Innocence" (2018), "The ABC Murders" (2018) and "The Pale Horse" (2020).

Charles Laughton played the Barrister in the 1957 version to full measure.  His character had suffered a heart attack and was under  doctor's  orders, to avoid stress but mostly ignored. His manner of speaking made an early impression on me and found few to measure to his standard.  Some of his standout performances include "The Canterville Ghost" (1944), "The Big Clock" (1948), "O. Henry's Full House (1952), "Hobson's Choice" (1952) and "Spartacus" (1960).

Toby Jones plays a solicitor who uncovers the accused Leonard Voles and is able to persuade him to be his lawyer.  In this role he is constantly coughing and has a wife who barely tolerates him despite his constant professions of love.  Toby has long been noted for character roles but his long history of stage and film roles have enabled him to take more leading roles.  HIs first leading role was as Truman Capote in "Infamous" (2006), but overshadowed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Other films he has starred in include "The Painted Veil" (2006), "W." (2008),  "Sereena" (2014).  He is slated to play in a remake of "The Canterville Ghost."  He played Alfred Hichcock in "The Girl (2012).   His wife is a criminal barrister.

Marlene Dietrich plays a German speaking actress and as usual is pretty sexy, although in her mid 50's  Josef Von Sternberg discovered and cast her in "The Blue Angel" (1930) and then took her to America where she starred in "Morocco"(1930) with Gary Cooper.  As a leading lady she was among the highest paid Hollywood actresses, but the public lost interest in her until James Stewart recruited her for "Destry Rides Again" (1939) in a comic role.  Another memorable role was in "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961). Later she was successful as a singer.

Andrea Riseborough played the German speaking false witness.  Earlier films included "Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and "The Death of Stalin" (2017).  She has had the honor of playing Margaret Thatcher and Wallis Simpson.

Tyrone Power was considered especially handsome (and also had a distinctive voice) and played Leonard Voles believably as a kept man later accused of his benefactor's murder.  He came from a line of stage actors and gravitated to swashbuckler roles such as "The Mark of Zorro" (1940).  His next film was to be "Soloman and Sheba" (1959 and he was also the co-producer, but he died from a heart attack incurred after a sword fighting scene.  His daughter Romina married and sang with Italian Al Bano and wrote the duck song.  

Billy Howle played Leonard Vole, who we first see as a soldier.  After the war he has trouble finding a job, but after attracting attention of a wealthy heiress becomes a little more sophisticated, but after he inherits her money appears comfortable in a seemingly upper class role.  Billy appeared in "Dunkirk" (2017) and "Chesil Beach" 2017).

"Witness for the Prosecution" is one of the films that impresessed me as an adolescent because of the main actors and the plot twist.  I had recently gotten access to the Acorn streaming service and saw "Witness for the Prosecution" and puzzled over Toby Jones.  I couldn't quite see him in the Charles Laughton role, but in fact he did a very commendable job in the slightly different role.  Barely remembering the plot twist other than it was very unique wondered how this other version might deal with it.  The earlier version now strikes me more like a stage version while the 2016 version seemed more grubbily realistic.  Toby's role was more of a tormented man than as a overly confident and somewhat snobbish Charles Laughton.  Both versions were quite enjoyable, but the remake had the advantage of the impact of the earlier.  The challenge of the plot twist was handled very well.

Remakes have inspired some other blogs, but the movies have to be noteworthy. The remake can stand out if it uses clever adaptations.  In some ways a viewer can better appreciate the creative talents involved at both ends.

Between an Agatha Christie worthy Spanish film and a Bollywood remake http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/a-masterpiece-film-and-very-good-remake.html 

and between a South Korean film copied in the Telegu language about a grandmother regaining her youth.
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/comparing-two-grannies.html

and between a Bollywood film and in the Tamil language about a sperm donor, a comedy with a serious theme
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/vicky-donor-cf-dharala-prabhu.html