A Man Called Otto (from A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman) Directed by Marc Forster, starring Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño and Rachel Keller, 2DUX², Playtone, SF Productions (2023)

Having read the book and watched the original sub-titled Swedish movie, I went to the theater ready to be disappointed in another Anglicized European movie.  Was I ever wrong.

A better director, a better cast with a nuanced performance and this is as good as a remake can get.

Tom Hanks, as Otto, plays a perfect, curmudgeon whose efforts to join his late wife are frustrated at every turn.  Rachel Keller plays the beautiful, kind wife, Sonya, in flashbacks seen as Otto's memories flashing before his eyes.  Mariana Treviño plays the neighbor Marisol (played here as Mexican with degrees from Universidad de los Andes and the University of California - perhaps since this version of the movie places the scene in the U.S. instead of Sweden).  She is instrumental in changing Otto, bringing him back to life in small pushes.  And there is the most laid-back cat (played by Smeagol, an American Longhair). 

Fundamentally, the story hasn't changed that much from the original, which is good.  Though there were scenes I wish they'd kept, like those with Otto's father, and coverage of Otto's years before he met Sonya.

It could be a contender for Oscar considerations.