Word: manchurian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Director Jonathan Demme has a vast portfolio (The Silence of the Lambs, Beloved and a forthcoming Gulf War-based remake of The Manchurian Candidate) behind him and, it would seem from just glancing that immense composite list, little time to dwell on the historical particulars and hardships of tracking down footage for a documentary. Yet, in his portrait of Jean Dominique, a Haitian activist unknown to most American ears, Demme takes aim at a slightly obscure topic and turns up a final product that not only serves as a fascinating narrative biography but an excellent debriefing of Haiti?...
...germ of the show was planted in Sondheim's head back in the 1970s when he was judging scripts at a workshop for new musicals and came upon one called Assassins. It was a different, Manchurian Candidate--like story about a war veteran hired to assassinate a President, but Sondheim remembered it years later when he was discussing ideas with Weidman, his collaborator on Pacific Overtures. Their first thought was to create a musical about assassinations through history, starting with Julius Caesar. They eventually narrowed it to assassins of U.S. Presidents--each of whom gets a moment in the spotlight...
...usual, the year’s end is rich with prestige films that studios will cast out as juicy Oscar bait. One of my most cherished films, The Manchurian Candidate, is being remade with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep on board. Though remakes of classic films are only occasionally successful, this pedigree will guarantee at least a vastly entertaining mess (I can hear those Gus Van Sant Psycho violins...
Like you, I love The Manchurian Candidate, and, like you, I’m apprehensive about the remake; I don’t think that Jonathan Demme’s flair can compensate for a script written by a guy whose past credits include The Sum of All Fears and Doc Hollywood. On the other hand, I don’t think that remakes are necessarily bad, especially with the right cachet; I was fine with paying top dollar to see the Psycho remake, for example, because I couldn’t pass up the chance to see William...
...Bunch movies--and the network courted it with I Love the 70s and I Love the 80s, limited-run series in which moderately famous actors, comics and musicians riffed on mass-culture icons from Kojak to Kajagoogoo. The series riveted twenty-and thirtysomething channel surfers, as though tripping a Manchurian Candidate--like synapse. In just over a year, VH1's ratings jumped more than 100% among 18-to-49-year-old viewers. (Also, of course, recycling culture is faster--and often cheaper--than creating original entertainment...