Starring: Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, Douglas Booth, Ashley Greene, Ashley Hinshaw
Director: Lisa Azuelos
Initial Release Date/s: 02/10/12 [India] & 05/04/12 [United States]
Running Time: 97 Minutes
When
I first heard about an American remake, for 2008 French coming of age "dramedy" LOL
(Laughing Out Loud), I automatically though of the chaos that
comes with cultural translations with films. It's safe to say that what the
French say in their native tongue has the same meaning, but in a different
context.
Lola (Cyrus) is a lively teenage girl living in Chicago, Illinois with her mother, Anne (Moore), and two younger siblings. She does her best to juggle school, family, social life, and lovel ife, while living in this world that is highly dominated by online social networks. The story begins during the first semester of a new school year, and breaking up with a sleazy, cheating boyfriend. To top it all of, her mother is dating her ex-husband, which is her father, and falling for her ex's best friend/bandmate. Her world is set into a spiral as she tries to figure out how to balance everything.
Like the original it has the same plot [With some minor tweaks] and director, which is a very rare instance. But does this mean that the film has the same gist, which it's far-flung original counterpart had? Unlike its original counterpart the film doesn't takes place in France, but Chicago, which was coincidentally colonized by the French. Though the film does have scene that were shot in France, which acted as the parallel of the educational trip to England for the original film. Needles to say, the production almost felt similar, with the use themes like metropolitan private schooling, upper-middle class high-end apartments, and contemporary teenage urban fashion.
It's so hard to give the film it's own distinguishing identity at first, because its doing its best to stay faithful to the original. Almost every aspect is translated through the production, but not performance-wise. In the 2008 version, Lola is played by Christa Theret who properly conveys her emotions and body language to create a vivid caricature of the contemporary teenager that's blooming in the modern Parisian culture. Miley Cyrus does her most, but it is not enough. Her performance feels more cold and forced, which makes it very difficult to get invested in her character. I have no problem with Demi Moore's portrayal of the mother, because I saw it as poetic justified compliment to Sophie Marceau's portrayal of the mother in the French version. I really can't say much about the people playing the circle of Lola's friends, because their performances felt a little forced as well. When I first saw the French version three years ago, the original portrayers of Lola's friends were exceptional and had amazing chemistry, which cant be seen or felt in this remake. I really hope that the ones in charge of casting for this film take a long hard look at themselves and the original film.
The other thing that really irked me about this current version was the lack of boldness. Granted that this film was meant for an American audience, and not the overtly liberated, new wave Europeans, its toned down atmosphere was very evident. There was sexuality in this film, but completely desensitized. I also know that the drug policy differs from country to country, but that was the beauty in the original. How do you desensitize sex? That was the entire of the film: To create a window of opportunity between parent-cild to talk about theses particularly sensitive topics. I bet that the director had a feeling of constraint with the American studio executives telling her to lower the level of eroticism, which is prominent in French films.
I always think it's an awful idea when a film is taken from its country of origin, then translated to fit a certain market. It looses its originality and initial cultural impact in the translation. From films like Death at a Funeral [2007], Le Diner de Cons [1998] andStanno tutti bene [1990], to name a few, are evidences that films translated from their original to fit the American demographics is very difficulty due to humongous cultural differences. Please World, leave each other's works alone, and just use the subtitles, or at least learn the language if you're willing to really indulge
Lola (Cyrus) is a lively teenage girl living in Chicago, Illinois with her mother, Anne (Moore), and two younger siblings. She does her best to juggle school, family, social life, and lovel ife, while living in this world that is highly dominated by online social networks. The story begins during the first semester of a new school year, and breaking up with a sleazy, cheating boyfriend. To top it all of, her mother is dating her ex-husband, which is her father, and falling for her ex's best friend/bandmate. Her world is set into a spiral as she tries to figure out how to balance everything.
Like the original it has the same plot [With some minor tweaks] and director, which is a very rare instance. But does this mean that the film has the same gist, which it's far-flung original counterpart had? Unlike its original counterpart the film doesn't takes place in France, but Chicago, which was coincidentally colonized by the French. Though the film does have scene that were shot in France, which acted as the parallel of the educational trip to England for the original film. Needles to say, the production almost felt similar, with the use themes like metropolitan private schooling, upper-middle class high-end apartments, and contemporary teenage urban fashion.
It's so hard to give the film it's own distinguishing identity at first, because its doing its best to stay faithful to the original. Almost every aspect is translated through the production, but not performance-wise. In the 2008 version, Lola is played by Christa Theret who properly conveys her emotions and body language to create a vivid caricature of the contemporary teenager that's blooming in the modern Parisian culture. Miley Cyrus does her most, but it is not enough. Her performance feels more cold and forced, which makes it very difficult to get invested in her character. I have no problem with Demi Moore's portrayal of the mother, because I saw it as poetic justified compliment to Sophie Marceau's portrayal of the mother in the French version. I really can't say much about the people playing the circle of Lola's friends, because their performances felt a little forced as well. When I first saw the French version three years ago, the original portrayers of Lola's friends were exceptional and had amazing chemistry, which cant be seen or felt in this remake. I really hope that the ones in charge of casting for this film take a long hard look at themselves and the original film.
The other thing that really irked me about this current version was the lack of boldness. Granted that this film was meant for an American audience, and not the overtly liberated, new wave Europeans, its toned down atmosphere was very evident. There was sexuality in this film, but completely desensitized. I also know that the drug policy differs from country to country, but that was the beauty in the original. How do you desensitize sex? That was the entire of the film: To create a window of opportunity between parent-cild to talk about theses particularly sensitive topics. I bet that the director had a feeling of constraint with the American studio executives telling her to lower the level of eroticism, which is prominent in French films.
I always think it's an awful idea when a film is taken from its country of origin, then translated to fit a certain market. It looses its originality and initial cultural impact in the translation. From films like Death at a Funeral [2007], Le Diner de Cons [1998] andStanno tutti bene [1990], to name a few, are evidences that films translated from their original to fit the American demographics is very difficulty due to humongous cultural differences. Please World, leave each other's works alone, and just use the subtitles, or at least learn the language if you're willing to really indulge
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