Gôsuto (2010) Online

I was surprised to find that I enjoyed this Japanese remake of Ghost even more than the original Hollywood version. One of the problems with the original is that it could never quite decide what genre it wanted to be. Most people think of Ghost as a romance; however, since Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore's characters were already an established couple, just moving in together at the film's start, there wasn't a tremendous amount of romance in their relationship, despite the famous pottery scene. The villains were dark enough to suggest this movie really wanted to be a thriller, complete with a high-stakes heist. Whoopi Goldberg's performance as the con artist-turned-real psychic was hilarious enough to garner her an Oscar, yet her over-the-top comedy completely broke the mood. By shoving together the elements of a romance, thriller, and comedy in ways that grated against, rather than complemented each other, the final product was a confused muddle.

The remake falls much more solidly into the romance category, starting when the couple first meets. There is a gender reversal from the original; Nanami is the high-powered businesswoman, Juno the sensitive male potter, and it works well, providing a more modern feel. We get to see them fall in love, and watch as the unique moments they share – which will later become "tells" for Nanami as a ghost – are created. This makes these moments much more powerful for the audience and enhances the emotional punch of the couple's separation and longing for each other. While the Japanese version showed more restraint with the love scene (staying at a PG rating rather than the PG-13 of the American version), don't mistake modesty for lack of passion. The pottery scene in this one is every bit as affecting as the original, and far more tender.

Several other changes help minimize distraction from the romance. The original version showed Swayze being reluctantly mentored by an unhinged spirit from the subway whose violence was senseless and disjointed from the rest of the film. The Japanese version uses a small child Nanami meets in the hospital; not only is this more logical, this character also ties in beautifully with Juno's decision in the climax of the film. The psychic is still eccentric and amusing, but she never steals the show away from the leads. Also the fate of the missing funds in the American version is dropped completely, replaced with a dramatic conclusion that provides much more emotional resonance. I found this version of Ghost to be more enchanting and satisfying overall than the original, so it's one film that I'm glad they remade!

It is said that there is no more room for originality in our postmodern world as everything the human race can conceive has been said, done and documented. Even if some might disagree, the constant regurgitation of remakes done onto our movie screens probably says otherwise. And surprisingly (or maybe not), the latest movie remake to hit our shores is one re-produced, not by Hollywood, but by the people most likely to come up with crazy stuff that no one else in the other corners of the world has probably thought of - the Japanese.

Although there are several tweaks as compared to the Moore and Swayze original, like the role reversal of its couple – the female partner dies in this one and the male is the ceramist, 'Ghost' essentially takes on the same romantic fantasy plot. For those, like me, who were too young to experience the cultural impact of this early nineties movie, watching the remake would probably not help us get any closer to that. If you are wondering just what form of cultural impact took place based on a movie about a girl and her lover from another dimension, do know that it did bag, amongst other accolades, an Oscar Best Picture nomination in 1991. It seems that nothing much has changed and there is still something about the love between a person and a supernatural being that sets people off. Well, at least the ghost lover in this movie does not sparkle; she just glows with heavenly light.

To be fair, some effort has been made in updating the movie according to the tastes of today's audiences. Featuring dreamy retro-tinged scenes of Tokyo's suburbs and a handsome and sensitive Korean character as the male lead, it is obvious that the producers are aiming for a piece of the current East Asian zeitgeist. Looking and feeling very much like a heartwarming Korean drama, fans of the genre might be easily pleased at watching two good-looking people taking their time to fall in love and stay in love despite obstacles.

Song Seung Heon, model and familiar face of K-dramas like 'East of Eden' and 'Autumn Fairy Tale', plays Juno Kim – a Korean ceramist who lives in Tokyo. His girlfriend is Nanami – acted by another well-known East Asian star Nanako Matsushima. Even if you are not a fan of Japanese dramas, you might remember her as the lead in 'The Ring'. Both of them play their parts with a certain tender conservativeness and sensitivity that is probably not unusual for mainstream Asian romantic movies. To be honest, it is no Hollywood romcom, so if you do not enjoy beautiful people staring longingly into each other's eyes for the longest time and having sweet and unassuming interaction, then you would probably be better off watching Natalie Portman's romantic movies.

The saving grace to the slowness of 'Ghost' is Whoopi Goldberg's equivalent – Satsuki Unten the fake psychic. With her stereotypical crazy old psychic expression and jittery demeanor, she adds laughter and a twist of craziness to the already quite absurd situation. As she is contacted by Nanami and proceeds to discover that her fake psychic powers are not so fake anymore, hilarity ensues as she tries to convince the grieving boyfriend that his girlfriend is still around and there is more to her death than is known. The eventual tragic parting after all the unfinished business is completed is guaranteed to draw some tears – only if you can get over the fact that she is a ghost and that dead people can return in movies.

• www.moviexclusive.com

I won't pretend Ghost is great film worthy of the Criterion collection, but what it does deliver is exactly what's on the tin: a story about two people (well, one ghost) in love. Nanami and Juno make a ridiculously adorable pair: one high-flying industry exec who's been burned a few times but still giddy about the handsome young oppa, and one quiet, industrious potter who's great with kids and head-over-heels for the beautiful (but slightly lonely) neechan.

I thought their teasing, familiar relationship was incredibly sweet, and their chemistry also carries the movie -- there's no stolid guy who can't ever convey his feelings, and even when Nanami has trouble telling Juno she loves him, she manages to do so in a way that clearly establishes her as someone who's afraid to lose what she has, rather than someone being cynical or flippant. And when Nanami dies, there is a great deal of grieving on both sides.

So yeah, if you're in the market for slightly silly but sweet romance with a side of cute kids and characters dealing with loss, check this movie out. And try not to laugh when Unchained Melody comes on and adds an extra layer of K-drama cheese.

Ghost is a Japanese remake of the late Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore-starrer box office hit of the same title.It stars Nanako Matsushima and Song Seung-heon together with Kirin Kiki,who plays the familiar Whoopi Goldberg role from the original as the physic Uten; and Mana Ashida.The screenplay was written by Miho Nakazono and Shimako Sato was taken from story of Bruce Joel Rubin.

Nanami is a very wealthy entrepreneur who met Kim Jun-ho,a Korean potter one night after going home drunk.After seemingly spending a night together and a rough start in their friendship,it develops into a surprising romance as they fall in love with one another despite having nothing in common.They decide to get married and spend a very happy life for one year.Unexpectedly,Nanami was killed by a biker after a robbery and arises as a ghost.She tries to stay on earth for a while after realizing that she was murdered and her husband's life is in danger.She also tries to utilize the psychic powers of Uten to be able to communicate to Jun-ho and acquires help from a child ghost in a hospital to be able to do things needed to complete her mission.

This film definitely took a lot of plot elements from Rubin's story such as the love making while doing pottery and the familiar song "Unchained Melody" is playing in the background,the familiar expression "ditto", the comedic physic who never realizes her ability until talking to Nanami,the bestfriend who was involved in a fraud in the company and the unexpected murder of the biker whose intention was simply for robbery.One maybe turned off by it especially if one is a great fan of the 1990 film.But nevertheless,it is still nice to see how a Japanese film play them well with respect to their culture despite of doing an American remake.

The obvious difference in the remake is that it is the woman Nanami,who was murdered and turned into a ghost and looks after her husband instead of the man,Sam Wheat in the original.I felt that this was somewhat contrary to Japanese culture considering that men normally can take care of their own and do really need help from others particularly women.What's also interesting is the fact that it was the woman who is more successful than the man in terms of wealth as she owns her own company while the man was a simple and down-to-earth potter.That is probably one reason why the male protagonist happens to be a Korean in Jun-ho so as not to spark tension or controversy.That is why I commend this film for doing it to promote somehow promote feminism.

What's also good about it is the romance between Nanami and Jun-ho was the centerpoint of the story instead of instead of trying to include too many genres unlike in the original that the romance gets lost at some parts.It was also great job by the Japanese scriptwriters to minimize the role of the Whoopi Goldberg-role psychic instead of turning it into an important character unlike in the original who unfortunately was able to steal the show from Sam and Molly in the original.This made the lead characters central to the movie.In other words,viewers will definitely be focused on what happens to both Nanami and Jun-ho instead of another supporting character.Another change that I like in the film is that it was a child who teaches Nanami various things about being ghost.This somehow made the film heartwarming considering that Nanami's unexpected death never allowed her to have a child.

Finally,I commend Nanako Matsushima for a great performance.She definitely made Nanami interesting and deserving of our empathy especially when we see her anguish and pain after an unexpected death and her happiness when she was able to complete her mission and spending a few moments with her husband before leaving earth.

Overall,this Japanese film was a good up-to-date remake in the 21st century.

The first question to pop into mind is, is there a necessity to remake Jerry Zucker's Ghost, which starred Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze, setting the box office ablaze to the tune of half a billion dollars worldwide, propelling clay pottery into the stratosphere of sensuousness boosted by Unchained Melody. It's the image that comes to mind when one remembers this film, and it's a tremendous hard act to beat for any remake. One may think that the Japanese may fuse their own romantic sensibilities into this one, but the end result is sucking all romanticism out of it, and becoming the parody that Zucker is also famed for.

Narratively it's almost the same as the Hollywood version, with young CEO Nanami (Nanako Matsushima) falling in love with Korean potter Jun-Ho (Song Seung-Heon) and having their romance cut short when one of them has to depart from this world because of a crime committed that was disguised like a petty theft, only for the story to unravel itself and provide that more than meets the eye touch, with the plot thickened to include a threat to the life of the still living partner. And to bridge between the lovers, they communicate via hack medium Unten (Kirin Kiri) who provides comic relief as the proxy between the two worlds since she's the only party who can hear the undead. And she's the best part of the movie.

So what went wrong? Well, everything unfortunately. There's a distinct lack of chemistry between the two leads, and their romance was very forced, like fitting square pegs to round holes. The direction by Taro Otani also came up short, and the alarm bells rang out when he allowed Nanami to give Jun-Ho a slap thinking that he had seduced her into a one night stand, but that slap was a meek, laughable brush of the cheek, with Jun-Ho reacting like a good one had been smacked right across his face. Making things worse, having a whiny male also made it unbearable, with Jun-Ho lamenting why Nanami refuses to say those three words that he spouts so freely. To think it's usually the other way round.

One of the highlights of the Hollywood film is, for its time, the painstaking level of detail gone into making Swayze's character ghostly, and that means removing every frame of shadow and reflection because well, spirits don't have them. Here, you can detect attempts to do something similar, but not as meticulous, which is a pity, though the effects of passing through humans and walls were still nicely done. Like a typical Japanese film, there must be Kawaii moments and this come courtesy of a ghostly, friendly child almost like Casper in manner, to milk some expired emotions in the last act when you know the two main leads cannot deliver at the emotional level.

To make matters worse, the romance here was cold and void of feelings. The bed scene made Mediacorp attempts look like vulgar hardcore porn, and Unchained Melody was covered by a really weak rendition, coming on at such a wrong time that demonstrated impotency at delivering when it mattered. This remake is ghastly cold, and tried too hard to evoke a sense of sincere warmth that usually comes automatically with the territory of the genre. If you want to watch Ghost, then watch the original Hollywood version as this remake pales in comparison, offering nothing new nor matching up to the bar already set.

I've never seen the American version of ghost but this Japanese version is amazing It's a sad heartbreaking love story and I cried throughout the movie The acting by the two leads is amazing and the ending is very emotional It's a movie you'll want to watch over and over I can't recommend this movie enough it's just amazing

Hopefully ghost will get an American blu Ray release but fortunately it's currently available to stream on Tubi TV

Highly recommended

It is almost an identical remake of the movie Ghost (1990) starring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze.

Certain things were changed around. The most significant is switching the man/woman role. It is probably more acceptable in the Japanese culture for a woman ghost to appear helpless than a man ghost.

There are some very cheesy scenes in the movie. It is unbelievably quickly for the two to fall in love even though they have nothing in common.

My main complain is the male actor who played Juno. He seems to have a hard time expressing sadness. I cringe when I see him try to cry.

As for the plot, it's more or less the same as the US version, down to the theme song.