Unnecessary Remakes Inevitably Go "Downhill"

Hey friends,

During the movie-watching spree that was 2020, I watched a Swedish film by director Ruben Östlund called "Force Majeure" (2014).  Billed as a dark comedy, I found it to be interesting, beautifully shot, and deeply unpleasant and uncomfortable, and was therefore concerned for my Swedish ancestors if this is what Swedes deem a comedy.  I was intrigued going into watching this movie due to Östlund's later film, "The Square" (2017), which was weird and hilarious.  But unfortunately, the balance felt off in "Force Majeure" and it didn't live up to its film descendant.

Was it a well-made movie? Sure.  Would I ever want to see it again?  Probably not.

So one might reasonably wonder why, during an era of my life in which movie-watching opportunities are extremely few and far-between, I would elect to spite-watch the American remake of this movie that no one asked for.  And my response would be that the answer is in the question.

And that answer is: spite.

It's been a while, but I've previously shared my deep, seething displeasure at the compulsion of the American film industry to remake perfectly good international films that are seemingly almost always worse than the originals.  In many ways this compulsion stings even more than the compulsion to remake perfectly good American movies, because there is immense value in being exposed to the differences and nuances in international films.  And also it wouldn't kill us to read subtitles from time to time.  

Seriously though, international movies are a way to experience other cultures and lives without needing to travel.  They are a very gentle and low-stakes entry point into worlds beyond our nation's borders.  The insistence on translating every decent international movie into a watered-down American analog feels both like an extension of our nation's colonizing and appropriating nature--we can't just let other people have nice things without taking them for ourselves--and the insistence on our own comfort, which comes from our expectation that we are always at the center of the universe.  God forbid we even briefly experience the fact that other nations exist and deserve our attention.  God forbid we let someone else have the spotlight for 90 minutes.

And yet: spite spurred me onward.

I therefore, despite everything I stand for, watched Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's "Downhill" (2020), starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell.  And the movie is basically shot-for-shot English-language redos of "Force Majeure" with blatantly Americanized edits or straight-up adjustments shoehorned in.  Even with the acknowledged years since I watched this movie's source material, the distinction between the two components of the film--relatively faithful retellings of the Swedish original and the American audience-centering embellishments and tangents--was excruciatingly clear.

What's especially annoying about these additions is that they generally seem only to exist to make subtler facets of the original story more obvious, as if American audiences can't be trusted to understand the emotional nuances of the already deeply palpable marital tension being gradually pulled tauter and tauter throughout the movie.  On some level I understand this move given that I genuinely believe, as I've already stated, that movies like this exist because American film studios don't think American audiences are willing to read subtitles.  After all, if we can't be trusted to read a transcription of what's being said, how can we be expected to read emotional subtext?

As a result, these newly invented elements feel tacked on, unnecessary, and insulting to the audience's intelligence.  For example, Louis-Dreyfus's Billie has a kind-of dalliance with her Italian ski instructor and all sorts of "hilarity" ensues, whereas Lisa Loven Kongsli's Ebba does nothing of the sort.  And Will Ferrell's Pete rams his son's sled despite the child repeatedly telling him to stop on a day when Pete is trying to redeem himself to his kids, while there are no such antics committed by Johannes Kuhnke's Tomas.  Decisions like these only maximize or embellish traits in these characters in a way that, compared to the original film, does not benefit the characters or the overall movie.  To put it more simply, "Force Majeure" may not have been a pleasant watch, but I respect it a hell of a lot more for pulling off the level of unpleasantness that it did without resorting to the hamfistedness of "Downhill."

All that to say, I gave "Downhill" a 2.

Thanks for reading, friends.  See you in September.

{Heart}