In 2002, there was a Hong Kong film that came out called "Infernal Affairs." This film won over 23 awards in Hong Kong and in film circuits throughout the world. It was lauded as one of the greatest films to ever come out of asia. Why, therefore, do I have such a problem with this movie, why do I constantly get into fights in multiple bars, pubs and other fine drinking establishments? Well, one because those are the places I hang out in. And Two, because this movie was poorly treated in America.
Many of you, more than might know Infernal Affairs, might know a little film starring Leonardo DiCaprio called The Departed. Matt Damon, Jack Nickel's son, yeah. This movie should never have been made. The Departed is a direct remake of Infernal Affairs.
Infernal Affairs was brilliant. It toured the world, winning accolades, until it came to the U.S. There it was given limited, small, minimal theatrical release. This was one of the biggest films in the world's history. I loved this film, saw it before it ever came to the theatrical run in this country.
The problem i have is that Americans, we, my native country, do not accept other cultures. We take them and remake them, mold them into our image, remake the films to make our own. Sure we let in the occasional foreign object such as slumdog millionaire, but 95% of the time, we simply recreate it. We as Americans are not ready to accept other cultures. It's us or nothing. There is no El Mariachi, there is only an American friendly remake. There is no Tom Yum Goong, there is only the Protector. There is no Infernal Affairs, there is no Hero, there is no Curse of the Golden Flower.
These films are reduced, reused, recycled. Those who find these films beneficial, beneficial, benevolent, and simply good, are marginalized, the freaks, the art house connoseurs who are only fit for France, the enemy, the cheese loving surrender monkeys.
Why we cannot accept outside involvement? We are insular. Literally. A continent reduced to an island.
my problem with the Departed is that it should have never existed. Infernal Affairs should have been given a full run, should have been promoted fairly, not buried and forgotten so as to provide a vessel for DiCaprio to pretend he can act, that Scorsese is still avant-garde.
We've already started remaking their television into our shows.
In Anthropology, they notice how groups do not accept outsiders. Participant-observation. Exogenesis, Entrogenesis. Is our world really that small?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
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