The Chilean filmmaker, who passed away on Friday aged 52, leaves behind a diverse but cohesive body of work including 'Gloria,' 'The Wonder' and the Oscar-winning 'A Fantastic Woman.'
\n\nWhen it was announced, in 2017, that the Chilean writer-director Sébastian Lelio was to helm a U.S. remake of his 2013 breakout film “Gloria,” admirers of the original — and indeed of Lelio himself — had cause for concern. English-language do-overs of world cinema successes frequently go awry; furthermore, we had the cautionary tale of Dutchman George Sluizer, who directed a hopeless 1993 remake of his own impeccable 1988 chiller “The Vanishing,” to remind us that even having the original filmmaker in charge was no guarantee against a travesty.
\n\nThe news came at a crucial moment in Lelio’s career. The first of his two films to premiere in 2017, the vibrant, heartfelt transgender character study “A Fantastic Woman,” was riding a wave of festival and critical success that began with a Best Screenplay win at the Berlinale, and culminated with an Oscar for Best International Feature (or Best Foreign Language Film, as the award was still called then) — the first ever win for a Chilean film in the category, sealing…
Original source: https://variety.com/