Premonition

Continuing on with my J-Horror tear (I've been on it since reading Asian Shock by Patrick Galloway...a great book, by the way), I decided to check out a movie who's remake is about to be released here in the U.S. starring Sandra Bullock. Yep, it's Premonition.



Now, there's a ton of controversy about whether or not this is a remake of Yogen (A J-Horror movie that was renamed Premonition for it's U.S. release). Having not seen the Sandra Bullock movie, it's hard to say, but odds are good that it is a remake, since Hollywood seems to have run completely out of ideas and has turned to Asia for anything that's mildly successful there to Americanize, bastardize and then shove down out throats!

Sooooo, with that all said, let's take a look at the original, Premonition, here's the story: Hiroshi is a hard working teacher. On the way home from a family vacation, he's trying desperately to upload a file that needs to be at work before he gets there. When he can't get a signal on his cell phone, he has his wife pull over at a pay phone to use dial up to send his file. While Hiroshi is standing in the phone booth waiting on his computer, he notices a scrap of newspaper, picking it up, it contains an article about his daughters death, in a car accident that's just minutes away from happening! Confused, Hiroshi's walking across the street to help his wife get his daughter out of the car, when he notices a truck approaching. Hiroshi tries but is unable to help his daughter, who is killed just as the newspaper described! Everyone assumes that Hiroshi is losing his mind with grief, we meet him again three years later, his marriage has fallen apart, he's a mess and everyone still thinks he's a bit off since his daughter's death. When Hiroshi sees another headline, predicting the death of one of his students, he feels that the people around him might be right, maybe he is losing it. Hiroshi turns to his wife, Ayaka, a researcher, who just so happens to be researching the very same thing that's plaguing Hiroshi, and together, it's up to them to discover where the papers are coming from and how to prevent their headlines from coming true!

Premonition is one of the strangest movies I've seen in quite some time, it's a bit disjointed in places and if you don't pay attention, you'll find it hard to follow. But, keep up with it and you'll be rewarded! Premonition is the story of tragedy and how any of us involved with it would love to change the past, and what the cost might be of doing that. It's a bit deep, but it's a riveting movie. I'm giving Premonition four out of four cigars,

because as the movie unfolds, you find yourself thinking about all the things that have gone wrong in your own life, and how changing that might change your current reality...deep, right?! Premonition is a movie that warrants re-watching, and I don't say that about too many movies. So, until next time, when I'll have a premonition of Hollywood getting an original idea...wait, that's not a premonition, that's a fantasy...remember that the best movies are bad movies!