TIFF day 9: Unforgiven - Japanese remake (by the other A Mrk)

The Japanese remake of Unforgiven offers an excellent and fascinating look at an American classic. The movie is both completely true to the original (in both tone and plot) and finds a perfect home in Japan. One of the rare times a foreign country has chosen to remake an American movie, from the moment of its announcement it was thought the story would be perfect for 1800's Japan and indeed the story is an excellent fit for the place and time.

The story begins in a brothel, when one of the women working there makes fun of her male clients. Wanting to punish her, he and one of his friends repeatedly slash her face, horribly disfiguring her. The brothel's madam calls the sheriff, but he refuses to punish the men. Infuriated, the women of the brothel pool their savings and put a price on the head of the two men, wanting their deaths. As word of this spreads, our main character (Ken Watenabe) is recruited to join an older man eager to do the killings, and then also a younger man, also interested in the reward.

One of the off putting aspects of both movies is the deadened, realistic depiction of violence. It is not dwelled on (though the Japanese version is more explicit) but is hard to realize that this is how violence actually exists in the world: People who are shot do not die and must be shot or knifed again, and they suffer in agony from their wounds. Both films are set in the late 1800s in countries that are now highly developed. The realization that their settling of their last frontiers were places utter crudity and savage violence makes us squirm to wonder how any decent people survived there, and how thin the veneer of civilization is. Indeed, the characters themselves have been worn down by violence - and they are the "winners" who delivered the violence.

Watenabe, just like Eastwood, is able to act by presence. He probably has less dialogue than at least four other characters, despite being the main character, yet in every scene we look to him. Clint Eastwood always seems to have violence under his skin, and the contained tension helps drive his movie. Watenabe is a calmer actor, and we remain in some doubt as to what he will do under the final scene.

There are only two changes to the movie: the inclusion of a subplot involving the Ainu, the native people of Hokkaido. Their inclusion feels quite natural, and fits well with the story. And, in this film the main character is asked by a stranger, the old man, to join the trip. In Eastwood's film he is asked by the young stranger, and then Eastwood convinces his old partner, and good friend, to join them. This certainly deepens the bond, and Eastwood's ensuing actions at the conclusion of the film has greater emotion resonance.

I saw the movie with my brother (who had seen it) and my sister (who had not seen it). Both enjoyed it greatly. It is the rare Western in which the female characters are not passive, though their treatment by other characters is horrid. Visually, the movie is very beautiful. As can be understood from the rest of the review, the movie features scenes that are difficult to watch, but it is always necessary, and most adults should be able to watch it. An excellent movie, this is a film for both fans of the original and those who are interested in something new.