Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Manchurian Candidate

Jonathan Demme, 129m, 2004
Curiosity arising from the infantile 1958 version of this espionage thriller having the same name induced me to risk this. Certainly this is state of art in comparison, and Meryl Streep in a villain's role is not the sole attraction. One of the charms is the likeness and unlikeness of the two films, which keeps the mind on two parallel tracks, more often diverging than converging.
AOScott
Some of the fun of his retrofitted ''Candidate" comes from its playful acknowledgment of -- and frequent departure from -- the first version, which was released in 1962, just in time for the Cuban missile crisis. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The original version is still a better one - and also a chilling political satire.

S. M. Rana said...

They definitely come as a pair...