Japanese remake of Unforgiven opens Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival
Director of Unforgiven Sang-il Lee at the Opening Night Gala of the Pan Asia Film Festival where his film Unforgiven had its UK premiere
Japanese remake of Unforgiven opens Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival
28 February 2014
Nearly 200 people packed the Opening Night Gala of the Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival to watch the UK premiere of Unforgiven (2013) at the ICA.
Korean director Sang-il Lee, who is based in Japan, attended the screening on Wednesday, 26 February 2014.
Director of the festival Alison Poltock introduced the movie, set in 1880s Hokkaido, Japan, as a “lush powerful remake of Clint Eastwood’s iconic Western.”
Sang-il has reversed the trend of Japanese films being remade into American movies by remaking an American Western as a Japanese flick. A number of Akira Kurosawa’s films have over the years been remade into American Western films. For example, Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven.
Head Programmer of the Festival Andrew Simpson said he had first seen the film at the Venice Film Festival 2013 and chose it to open the Pan-Asia Film Festival with as the aim of this year’s Festival was to challenge perceptions about Asian culture and cinema.
Sang-il Lee, famed for Hula Girls, speaking through a translator, explained how he first saw the original 1992 Clint Eastwood film when he was a university student and Hollywood blockbusters were all the rage.
Director of Unforgiven Sang-il Lee speaking through a translator on the stage
“Unforgiven was completely different to films like Die Hard and this is why it had such a big impact on me,” he said.
“Die Hard was of course an interesting movie,” he added.
But what struck him about Unforgiven was the “truth behind the violence” and “what kind of pain it causes,” he explained.
“That kind of theme goes throughout it and that’s why I think I did not understand it straight away and it took about 20 years to make the movie,” he added.
He said he set his version towards the end of the 19th century as the original movie was set in the same period.
“It was the end of the samurai period 10 years before that and the modernisation of Japan was beginning to happen. At that time indigenous people were ruling Hokkaido and the strong were ruling the weak and that kind of fact is something even Japanese people want to forget about,” he told the audience bashfully.
Japanese actor Ken Watanabe was the perfect Clint Eastwood, he said, because the two shared similar backgrounds in being renowed for acting characters that can withstand great pressure and both had magnificent presence, he added.
Unlike most films being made today, Sang-il shot his version of Unforgiven on film rather than digitally and did not use computer graphics at all. “The scenery is all real – there is that authenticity that I wanted the audience to feel with this movie,” he added.
The reception in Japan had been great, he said, with some people thinking it was better than the original 1992 Western. “Clint Eastwood made a very positive comment so I am very happy about that,” he concluded grinning.
The screening and Q&A was preceded by a lively food and drinks reception in the ICA bar.
naomi.canton@asiahouse.co.uk
Guests queue to get into the film at the ICA. It was a sell-out
Unforgiven was screened in London and Glasgow as part of the Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival, to find out more about the festival, click here.
