This writer’s favorite movie of 2009 was Oliver Assayas’ moving and bittersweet French family drama, “Summer Hours.”
Now Pajiba is reporting that Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions is developing an American remake of “Summer Hours” with Hanks and Gary Goetzman (“Where The Wild Things Are”) producing.
Our friends at Pajiba expect us to have “outrage” over this news, but we don’t see the point really.
Assayas’ picture is about three siblings (Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier) who begin to witness the dismantling of their childhood memories and family legacy when their mother passes away and then begin to sell of her belongings and their beloved summer home. But the picture’s strengths are not really its story or its screenplay, it’s the more ineffable qualities like it’s mood, tone, and stellar performances. It will be very difficult for any remake, regardless of language, to capture the wistful tenor of the picture which is really all about the loss of a loved one and the inevitable changing of the guard. It’s not the most obvious remake news you’ll see.
However, the picture is evidently for mature audiences only. Our friends at Pajiba want you to know they think “Summer Hours” is “highfalutin” (since they use the word five times in their article). But who are you going to believe, the Criterion Collection that is putting out the film in April or the site that did an article on the Best “BJ lips” in Hollywood ;). Choice seems obvious, no?
