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Monday Movie Meme - Lost in Translation
Monday, October 28, 2013 at 8:08PM 
Have you’ve ever watched a foreign film with subtitles so puzzling that you feel like you’d be better off seeing this movie in its native language? If so, the theme of this week’s Monday Movie Meme is for you and those of us who have had to find our own way -- through the actions and moving lips in films from other lands: Lost in Translation.
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies you’ve watched that contain frustrating subtitles. They might even be so bad that you felt a headache coming on, just trying to follow long in the story playing out on screen. Some subtitles are incomplete or do not make any sense. Others are displayed in an ineligible font or color that causes strain on the eyes. Whatever the case, you wished more attention to detail was put toward this seemingly minor, yet oh-so-important, aspect of a movie.
Here are my selections for this week’s Lost in Translation theme.
The Girl who played with Fire
I developed a headache while trying to watch this movie due to the faulty subtitles. Solution – turn on the English dub track! That was easy enough, except for the fact that I could not seem to turn the subtitles off, so I had two choices – watch “The Girl who played with Fire” with subtitles only, even though they disappear mid-sentence while the characters are visibly still talking on screen. Or, I can activate this movie’s English dub track and then sit back and watch while the English that I’m hearing on screen doesn’t match up to the subtitles. What the heck?! Did they outsource both versions to two completely different companies, or what?
What I found most interesting, however, is that after I returned this confusing piece of junk back to the library where I borrowed it from, the DVD rental that I picked up from Blockbuster was just fine – so fine that I didn’t even need to watch it with an English dub. I was able to watch it with fully completed subtitles. The lesson in this viewing experience: Be weary of getting foreign films from libraries.
Bliss (Mutluluk)
Yeah, this movie has been on my radar a lot lately and is the (loosely) inspiration for this week’s meme. The subtitles are thin, yellow and too damn small. I had to get up and stand in front of the television several times throughout this movie, just so I could read what the characters were saying.
Good thing that “Bliss” was otherwise a well-made film and had a tight story going for it. Although this is one of few foreign films that I would watch again, it is highly unlikely that I will do so, given the fact that its subtitling size needs to be bumped up a notch or two – or three!
Oldboy
After learning about this popular South Korean mystery drama, I rented the DVD, only to learn that its subtitles do not match up to the action and verbal communication being displayed on screen.
So, I refused to continue to watch “Oldboy” at that time and today it remains among the films I hit the “stop” button on, turning off after only just a few scenes in. Considering what happened with “The Girl who played with Fire” where I had to obtain the same movie twice from different services, I’m now wondering of this “Oldboy” subtitle mix-up was a case of a shoddy DVD source. As the November 27th release of the “Oldboy” remake approaches, I also wonder if I should even bother watching the Korean one; why bother playing subtitle roulette when I can watch an all-English version without all this native/foreign translation drama?!
What foreign films have YOU watched that contained faulty subtitles, making it difficult for you to interpret, or enjoy, the movie?
Reader Comments (2)
You mention Oldboy. That's one movie I'm dying to see before Spike Lee's version hits the theaters next month!
I'm not big on subtitles....I mean, I'd prefer watching movies in the original languages while reading the subtitles (dubbed movies drive me nuts!), but I don't pay much attention to 'em. Now, as for commentaries, if you ever watch the movie CHUD (a cult 80's horror movie), it has the world's best commentary, where the cast gets progressively drunker as the movie wears on. It's amazing. Heh....
Herman,
No way! I'm surprised you haven't seen "Oldboy" already given your extensive collection. You're usually on top of all the good, classic...and obscure releases. I doubt I'll get around to it before the Spike Lee one comes out now that I have to figure out where to get a good rental copy...unless there is a VOD option available on iTunes or something. A drunken commentary, you say?! Now that's gotta be fun to listen to. I'll be sure to look out for "Chud" the next time I'm updating my rental queue....I'm all for some rare entertainment on the special features menu :)
I agree with your position on reading subtitles over the dubs, for the most part. I just want them to be done right or not at all so that I don't have to resort to having to watch a movie with the dub track enabled, lest I'm left in a state of confusion about what's going on in the story. It seems that some producers or distributors put more care into their film's native release and then don't care about how it is presented in other countries....but I hope I'm wrong about that. Are complete and legible subtitles too much to ask? sheesh.