Saturday, January 18, 2014

Le Transperceneige

Snowpiercer (Korean: 설국열차; hanja: 雪國列車; RR: Seolgungnyeolcha) is a South Korean sci-fi action thriller film based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob & Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho,[4][5] and co-written by Bong and Kelly Masterson. The film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, Ewen Bremner, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris. The film marks Bong's English-language debut; he has mentioned that approximately 80% of the film was shot in English.[6][7] On November 9, 2012, The Weinstein Company secured distribution rights in North America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.



Le Transperceneige est une bande dessinée de science-fiction post-apocalyptique française en noir et blanc créée par Jacques Lob (scénario) et Jean-Marc Rochette (dessin), publiée du 1 au 2 dans le magazine (À suivre) et éditée de à par Casterman. La série a été poursuivie et terminée par le scénariste Benjamin Legrand, remplaçant Jacques Lob en 1999.
Le premier album est récompensé du Prix Témoignage chrétien au Festival d'Angoulême 1985. Le réalisateur coréen Bong Joon-ho l'adapte au cinéma en 2013 sous le nom de Snowpiercer, le Transperceneige avec Chris Evans.



The much-anticipated film Snowpiercer has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Renowned Korean director Bong Joon-ho helms a stunningly crafted film with a solid, recognizable cast including Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Jamie Bell and Octavia Spencer, not to mention award-winning  Korean actors Song Kang-ho and Go Ah-sung.
This film is a major breakthrough for both Bong Joon-ho and Korea as it would be the first Korean film to get a major American release with the potential to do very well with American audiences. Snowpiercer, almost entirely in English, has already been released in Korea and France (with upcoming releases in Japan, Germany, Sweden and other non-English-speaking countries ) to both great financial and critical success.
So why has no release been scheduled in the U.S?
The Weinstein Company secured the rights to distribute Snowpiercer in the U.S (in addition to the UK, Australia and New Zealand, which are also being deprived of the director's cut). However the company, and namely Harvey Weinstein, has demanded 25 minutes of the director’s final cut be removed in addition to placing voice-overs within the film to make it more marketable to a general American audience. Director Bong Joon-ho stands by his original cut, as does much of the cast and crew, believing the film will suffer a loss of message, character development and depth should this happen. Additionally many believe American audiences are more than capable of understanding and appreciating this film without the aid of further cuts and voice-overs. Many consider the Weinstein cut will turn a powerfully-themed film with a distinct message into an action/thriller movie with no more depth than many of the mediocre action movies plaguing US theaters currently.
It comes down to a question of ethics and the dictation of what American audiences are capable of understanding.
"The goal, said TWC [The Weinstein Company] when explaining the request to Bong, is to make sure his film ‘will be understood by audiences in Iowa… and Oklahoma.’ Weinstein also asked for introductory and closing voice-overs to be added in” [http://screenrant.com/snowpiercer-deleted-scenes-us-theatrical-cut-version/].
If artistic imports such as Snowpiercer are continuously reconditioned to cater to a perceived American inability to think outside our own borders and comfort zone then that inability will only continue indefinitely, and the international perception of our own self-serving narrowmindedness will remain deserved.
Kaori Shoji of The Japan Times said this of the film: “As far as I’m concerned, this is required viewing for every human being on the planet” [http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/01/02/films/our-movie-highlights-of-the-coming-year/#.Us-cePRDvng].
Let us show Mr. Weinstein that holding this film hostage until the director concedes to his unreasonable demands are not acceptable. The vision of the artist, in this case the director, should be given priority in cooperation with marketing strategies. Altering a work of art to the point where its meaning is lost and no longer discernable to simply make it more palatable is not acceptable. This film, which many have been anticipating for so long, has the potential to make a very stunning point about social classes and the dangers of elitism, an issue that has become prominent in the United States recently.
We must show Mr. Weinstein that we, as Americans, will not stand to be insulted by the insinuation that the general American populace is incapable or unwilling to appreciate a ground-breaking dramatic film from an Asian director, focusing on relevant anthropological issues.
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