Status-Q

Rose found this nice report in the IMDB news:

Efforts by overseas film distributors to cut costs by outsourcing subtitle translations to such countries as India and Malaysia have resulted in creating dialog that makes little sense to local audiences, according to today’s (Monday) London Times. The newspaper observed that translators with little understanding of the nuances of English are taking the place of British subtitlers, many with long careers in the business. Kenn Nakata Steffenson, who translates English films into Danish and Japanese films into English, cited one film in which the line “Jim is a Vietnam vet” became “Jim is veterinarian from Vietnam” in the farmed-out Danish subtitles. In another film, the words “flying into an asteroid field” became “flying into a steroid field.” In yet another, “She died in a freak rugby accident” became “She died in a rugby match for people with deformities.” In My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Uma Thurman’s line, “We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment” was translated into Taiwanese as “We hold the highest standards for sexual harassment.” The Times said that Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro was so upset with the English subtitles for his 2001 film The Devil’s Backbone that he himself worked on the subtitles for last year’s award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth.

I remember watching one of the Die Hard movies in Malaysia, where the censor had been hard at work, especially on Bruce Willis’s stronger language, simply by cutting and splicing the film. I particularly recall one of the less subtle bits of editing where Willis turns to another character and says, “Yeah? Well I’ve got two words for you. Off!”

I must confess I felt that the last Bond film was evidence that the franchise was in terminal decline, and after seeing it decided I probably wouldn’t bother with any future ones.

But then, through a slight connection with a charity of which Judi Dench is a patron, we had a chance to get early preview tickets for Casino Royale, and went to see it tonight. And I have to say that my faith has been restored. This is not just a significant improvement on the last couple of movies – I think it could qualify as one of the best of the bunch.

It’s rather more serious than most Bond films because they’ve cut much of the buffoonery. Fond as I am of John Cleese, for example, I always thought him a little out of place, and wasn’t sad to lose him. The acting is good and the script well above average; chiefly, perhaps, because it is remarkably close to Fleming’s original story.

Recommended.

As an aside, though, every time I’ve been to a film in the last few years I’ve found them almost painfully loud, with the exception of those in our local arts picturehouse. Does that just mean I’m getting old, or is the volume creeping ever upwards? I’m going to try and borrow a decibel meter from somebody next time I go. In the meantime, it’s just one more reason to watch things at home. Perhaps the cinemas think that demonstrating the power of their amplifiers is a way to emphasise their difference from home cinema. Well, it worked, but not quite in the way they wanted!

The Prestige. Saw it last night. Loved it. Recommended.

We watched “The Spanish Prisoner” last night. I’ve been a fan of David Mamet’s since seeing, buying and watching several times his version of The Winslow Boy. The Spanish Prisoner comes halfway between that and The Usual Suspects! Both recommended, if you don’t know them.

Mamet’s wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, stars in both films, with a somewhat less flattering coiffure than shown here. Her acting style (or perhaps it’s more his directing style) is a little unusual, but I think she’s great.