Top American Adaptations of Foreign Movies

Director Gore Verbinski’s haunting atmospheric moviemaking and an intense performance by Naomi Watts carried “The Ring,” a thriller about people who die after viewing a videotape. The Japanese film “Ringu” predated the American movie and featured a reporter and her ex-husband investigating a video rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.

This road movie stars William Hurt as a con man released from prison who heads to Louisiana to reunite with his wife (Maria Bello) and meets two young people (Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne) on the way. “The Yellow Handkerchief” is a reboot of a Japanese movie concerning three strangers on a road trip to Hokkaido.

“The Mirror Has Two Faces,” directed by Barbra Streisand, is about two middle-aged college professors (Streisand and Jeff Bridges) who start a romantic but non-physical relationship. That becomes complicated when the woman longs for more. The cast includes Lauren Bacall and George Segal. The original is about a woman bearing the psychological burden of being beautiful after cosmetic surgery.

Paul Mazursky’s comedy of manners stars Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler as an affluent but quarrelsome couple who find a homeless man (Nick Nolte) on their property and help him. This is a redo of a 1932 French film directed by Jean Renoir, who never tired of poking fun at the bourgeoisie. Renoir’s classic has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

In this horror film, the Parkers, a reclusive family wedded to ancient customs, find their secret lives threatened when the death of the family matriarch forces daughters Iris and Rose to take on special responsibilities. This was an early-career film for Julia Garner, who went on to appear in such series as “The Americans,” “Ozark,” and “Inventing Anna.” The Mexican original film focuses on the son of the deceased patriarch who’s tasked with finding human flesh for his cannibal family.