Subtitles, anyone?

[BookStop]

Which films are worth the subtitles?

Run, Lola, Run in German
Amelie in French

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Battle Royale in Japanese
Save the Green Planet in Korean

A better question could be which movies are better dubbed?

 

[j d worthington]

Sorry... the list of films I'd give that are worth the subtitles is immense (I've been exposed to massive amounts of foreign cinema, having been married to a film major.)

But some of those I'd suggest would be:

Last Year at Marienbad
Cries and Whispers
The Seventh Sign
Vampyr
Day of Wrath
anything by Fritz Lang (that's subtitled; before he came to Hollywood)
nearly anything by Akira Kurosawa
Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
La Belle et le Bete......

Well, you get the picture (so to speak....)

Oh, and I strongly suggest watching Ringu, Dark Water, Ju-On, and Uzumaki in the original Japanese... subtleties here are important, and make the film much, much more eerie ... no "in your face" horror, but a genuine feeling of reality crumbling and the void encroaching. The Japanese are, frankly, kicking our butts when it comes to the supernatural tale on film.... Also Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, and Abre los ojos (remade as Vanilla Sky... the original is, IMO, much more powerful).

 

[Mouse]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Better with subtitles.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

La Belle et le Bete

That one is definitely worth it. However, I would like to see it dubbed (if it were done well). It's so stunning visually (except for the Beast ... his mask or make-up or whatever it is may have been amazing at the time, but it looks tacky now) that I hate pulling my eyes away to read the subtitles.

Also, with these things I always wonder if the original dialogue might have been considerably better than the subtitles are. The people who provide the subtitles may provide competent literal translations, but they don't seem to be exactly artistic.

 

[BookStop]

Oh - I almost forgot The Blind Swordsman - Zatoichi (it's not your run of the mill kung-fu, sword movie)

 

[j d worthington]

Also, with these things I always wonder if the original dialogue might have been considerably better than the subtitles are. The people who provide the subtitles may provide competent literal translations, but they don't seem to be exactly artistic.

That's a valid point, yes. It depends on how well the subtitles themselves are done. For example, the subtitling on Spirited Away seemed to actually try to capture some of the nuances, from what I could gather; the same with several other films (Marienbad being one)... others are, as you say, rather flat. So that's something to keep in mind, as well.

 

[Marky Lazer]

Der Untergang.

 

[Shoegaze99]

Which films are worth the subtitles?

The question seems to imply that subtitles are an 'issue' of sort requiring an extra good film to sit through.

Any film worth watching is worth subtitles, assuming you don't speak the language the film was shot in.

And if a film was shot in a language other than English, it's subtitles and ONLY subtitles. No dubbed versions, thanks.


Teresa: Subtitle quality can vary wildly, even on the same film. I've seen Seven Samurai in no less than three different translations, for instance, and they were markedly different. One was nearly unwatchable they were so bad, the other two quite good but in different ways (the Criterion DVD release and a print a local theater showed). Same with a lot of Kurosawa, actually. Folks who are really into foreign language cinema keep a close eye on who did the translations; some folks/'houses' are better than others.

 

[ravenus]

The Hong Kong chop-socky releases of the 70's and 80's worked a lot better with dubbing. I could never forget the scene in Shaolin Temple where a warlord asks an old monk "Basturd! Wanna fight?"

 

[the smiling weirwood]

La Dolce Vita....I just finished watching it. It is the only thing that has made me want to commit suicide.

 

[Thadlerian]

Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
But make sure it's subtitles, not dubtitles!

The difference: Subtitles are translations, dubtitles are simply the dub put in text. Watching Mononoke Hime in Japanese with English dubtitles is an embarrassing experience... text appearing when no-one is speaking...

Neil Gaiman totally wrecked the script of Mononoke Hime, which is part of the reason for me holding a certain grudge against the man. My DVD contains only dubtitles, not the direct translations in the area 1 version... an excellent incentive for me to try to learn Japanese

 

[Jason_Taverner]

I hate dubbed always go for subtitles with one exception the dub in nightwatch was excellent

 

[ray gower]

Try The Seven Samurai.

Dub that and the audience would be laughing too hard to take the film seriously

 

[Nesacat]

City of Lost Children
Nang Nak
Dark Water

 

[Culhwch]

Der Untergang.

Definitely. Downfall was close to the best film I saw last year. Also A Very Long Engagement, which I think is a far better film than Amelie. I don't think I got past the first fifteen minutes of Amelie....

 

[the smiling weirwood]

Oh yes! A Very Long Engagement is simply beautiful. I loved it.

 

[jackokent]

The visitors

 

[ScottSF]

I hate dubbed always go for subtitles

Me too. I hardly even notice subtitles anymore; it's almost as if I hear them speaking English in my head. The only time subtitles are ever a problem is if I'm sitting close in a theater, then I gotta move my whole head to read.

Some of my favorite non-English movies are: The Vertical Ray of Sunlight, City of Lost Chilren, Leolo (not for children or those easily disturbed) and Dreams.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Cinema Paradiso.