English-language remakes of popular foreign films are becoming more common as Hollywood studios hope for a sure thing at the box office and stars look for leading roles. With the buddy comedy The Upside, in current release, Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart attempt to surpass the original 2011 French hit The Intouchables (in terms of U.S. grosses, they already have). Bart Freundlich has remade Susanne Bier’s Danish love story After the Wedding (2006) as a vehicle for his wife, Julianne Moore (it opens next month). The case of the new Miss Bala remake and its predecessor intrigues because of what it reveals about disparate cultures (advisory: there are many spoilers ahead).
As in the original, the heroine witnesses a nightclub massacre and is abducted by the criminal gang leader, Lino (here played by the young and handsome Ismael Cruz Cordova), who immediately presses her into service to help him expand his drug empire. This Lino, however, is also a Mexican-American, and like Gloria, he has lived on both sides of the border. Unlike her, however, he’s conflicted about his mixed heritage; it’s an Achilles heel that’s exacerbated by his growing attraction to Gloria, who reminds him of a pretty high school classmate back in Bakersfield. His stance toward Gloria borders on the seductive: in numerous shots, he eyes her appreciatively and caresses her skin and hair. But, reminiscent of Robert Pattinson’s romantic vampire in Hardwicke’s blockbuster Twilight (2006), he doesn’t consummate his desire. Sexy, dangerous, but chaste—that’s certainly a popular female teen fantasy, here played out against some glamorous backdrops in Baja California.
Directed by Gerardo Naranjo. In Spanish with subtitles. R, 113 min.Miss Bala (2019) Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. In English and subtitled Spanish. PG-13, 104 min.
