French ‘One Cut of the Dead’ Remake ‘Coupez’ Delivers a Surprisingly Fun Twist On The Original [Fantasia 2022 Review]
Mary Beth McAndrews
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Shinichirou Ueda’s 2017 film One Cut of the Dead was an instant hit. Starting with a 45-minute long take and moving into a charming story about the power of indie filmmaking, it’s an endearing look at the beauty of movies. So when it was announced Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) was directing a French remake of the film named Coupez, many were understandably wary. Why do we need a remake of an already incredible film? But, Hazanavicius handles the struggles of creating a remake with surprising grace. Despite a few missteps, Coupez pays homage to One Cut of the Dead while adding its own sprinkles of originality to help set it apart.
Coupez starts off with a 30-minute long take of an obviously low-budget zombie movie named Z that takes place on the set of a zombie movie. So it’s a fictional film about a fictional film inside of the larger narrative of Coupez. Meta, no? The film follows the crew as they try to escape a supposed zombie curse. The long take is full of weird awkward pauses and strangely empty shots (if you’re in on the joke, then you know what’s going on). Something seems off, even down to the Japanese names for the very obviously white cast. That raised quite a few questions about what direction Hazanavicius is going for here. It’s not difficult to get your guard up seeing that specific appropriation, especially given the West’s history of adapting East Asian films.
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But, after the long take finally cuts, Coupez starts filling in all the context. Remi (Romain Duris), who plays the crazed director in Z, is also the film’s actual director. He’s asked to recreate One Cut of the Dead for France by the same executive behind the original project (played exquisitely by Donguri). Again, it’s going to be a live-streamed horror production with no cuts at all. In short, a massive challenge. The rushed second act details the struggles of preparing for such a project. Here, Hazanavicius too quickly establishes the stakes and our actors before jumping into the behind-the-scenes third act that explains the strange pauses and bizarre choices seen at the film’s beginning.
A few characters, like Matilda Lutz’s Ava, feel underutilized. She plays a hot, young actress with tons of followers, but that potential isn’t fully tapped into. Instead, the story focuses on the pretentious Raphael (Finnegan Oldfield), which while comedic, takes away focus from other characters. There isn’t enough of a balance between characters to become as invested in the stakes of the live stream’s success.
The third act is where Coupez truly shines. While we know Z ends relatively successfully, the tension is still there as Remi sprints through halls and tries to come up with quick solutions on the fly. But it’s not just Remi trying to make it work. Everyone, from actors to the female-dominated production team, is equally invested in the film’s success. We see production assistants sprinting to make sure the blood spurts are perfect, give the DP a wheelchair to ensure smooth running shots, and more. This is where you truly get a feeling for how much work goes into a film and how much a team effort it truly is. Certain moments of gross-out humor take you out of that briefly (a lot of poop jokes), but thankfully they’re limited.
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Hazanavicius does add a new character that really breathes fresh comedic life to Coupez: Fatih, played by Jean-Pascal Zadi. He’s the composer for Z, who is tasked with scoring the film live. His practice tracks are used with perfect comedic timing and he functions as a tension breaker who really establishes just how ridiculous the whole concept is. During the stream itself, his declarations of “I have no idea where we are in the script” again blatantly, yet funnily, establish just how bizarre the production is.
Like any remake, especially when Western countries try to adapt East Asian cinema, it’s difficult to separate the two films for those who’ve seen One Cut of the Dead. But overall, while Coupez struggles to adapt Japanese humor into French and loses some of the original’s charm, it is still a hilarious meta-commentary on the struggles of making a remake. That meta angle alone makes it worth watching. But, with the addition of characters like Fatih, Hazanavicius forges his own path. If you are familiar with One Cut of the Dead and are trepidatious about Coupez, let this review ease your fears. And if you aren’t familiar with the original, get ready for a fun journey through the beauty, and pain, of filmmaking.
Coupez had its North American premiere at the 2022 edition of the Fantasia Film Festival.
Summary
While ‘Coupez’ struggles to adapt Japanese humor into French and loses some of the original’s charm, it is still a hilarious meta-commentary on the struggles of making a remake.
