A remake of a Kurosawa film… you’re
already on dangerous ground. But when it’s Mike Nichols directing from a
David Mamet script, I’m at least willing to listen. The film in
question is High & Low, the story of a business man whose
child is kidnapped and held for ransom. The original starred the
inimitable Toshiro Mifune, and it’s a really great film – and I think
it’s underrated since people tend to focus on Kurosawa’s samurai cinema.
Now
Chris Rock is writing the remake, according
to AOL Black Voices. What the
hell? How did Chris Rock get into the remake racket so heavily? And how
did somebody decide that Chris Rock was
the dude to write a police procedural?
For those playing along at home,
Rock’s remakes have been:
Down to Earth – a
remake of the Warren Beatty film Heaven Can Wait
I Think I Love My Wife –
a remake of Eric Fucking Rohmer’s Chloe in
the Afternoon
Those
are the ones he wrote. He’s starred in:
Death at a
Funeral – a remake of Death at a Funeral,
a British film from two years ago
The
Longest Yard
Dr. Dolittle
Sgt. Bilko (which I guess is really an
adaptation, but close enough).
And he’s optioned The First
Star,
a 2009 French film, as well!
I don’t know, this whole thing feels
like a comedy bit. I feel like I’m in a weird alternate universe where
Sarah Silverman is about to write a remake of Au Hasard Balthazar.