One of my favorite films of all time is “Wings of Desire”, the 1987 metaphysical meditation by Wim Wenders. It’s one of those rare works that seems to perfectly realize its ambitions. The achingly beautiful story centers on Bruno Ganz as an angel who must choose between heavenly immortality and his love for a human woman.
Today at lunch a friend told me that this movie was remade by Hollywood in 1998 as “City of Angels”, starring Nicholas Cage in the Ganz role and Meg Ryan as his human love interest. I never saw the latter film because at the time various friends warned me away.
Now going back and reading the reviews of “City of Angels” on IMdB, I see that they are neatly divided into two opposing camps. Anyone who had never seen “Wings of Desire” finds “City of Angels” to be charming, if somewhat flawed. Whereas everyone who had previously seen “Wings of Desire” expresses a deep dislike for “City of Angels”, bordering on horror and revulsion.
I suppose it’s similar to the situation with many Hollywood remakes of great films. For example, if you have any intention of enjoying “The Magnificent Seven”, do not under any circumstances see “The Seven Samurai” first. Seen alone, “The Magnificent Seven” is a somewhat silly and offbeat American oater. Yet seen as a remake of “The Seven Samurai”, it is an abomination and a desecration, more or less a rancid vial of stinking urine flung at the gods of cinema.
There might be cases where the Hollywood remake is actually better than the original. I can’t think of any examples off-hand, but the sheer force of numbers suggests that such a thing most likely exists. Meanwhile, I am left to ponder the dynamics at work here.
For example, suppose Hollywood were to randomly remake great Bruno Ganz films, in each case casting Nicholas Cage in the same role. Imagine, for example, the Nicholas Cage version of “Downfall”. Somehow the thought of Mr. Cage as Hitler in the bunker sends chills up my spine, for all the wrong reasons.
Not to denigrate the unique talents of Nicholas Cage. After all, I’m not sure I would want to see Bruno Ganz in a remake of “Valley Girl”.
Not sure it counts as a remake, since they’re both adaptations of the same book, but I enjoyed Liliani Cavali’s film of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley’s Game, with John Malkovich, far more than Wenders’ Die Amerikanisch Freund, with Dennis Hopper. (And I say that as a confirmed Wenders fan — WoD and Until The End Of The World are two of my favorite films.) The later film is less self-consciously obscure, more strictly narrative. And John Malkovich plays Tom Ripley better than either Hopper or Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley. It’s worth your time.
Also, if you like Wenders, track down the 6 hour director’s cut of UtEoTW on Bittorrent, as it’s not available for Region 1 DVD players, if at all these days commercially. If you’ve seen the 2.5 hour release, it’s 1000% better — it fills in all the gaps and presents a far longer and amazingly prescient American sequence. One of the 20th century’s most beautiful films. And who wouldn’t love 3.5 more hours of the late and lovely Solveig Dommartin?