motardmom
New Member
Memoirs of a Geisha is one I've been wanting to see but haven't yet. It's on video now, no? (I don't want this guy at my house... lol)
Seen Any Good Movies Lately?
- Thread starter youngsta
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Memoirs of a Geisha is one I've been wanting to see but haven't yet. It's on video now, no? (I don't want this guy at my house... lol)
Yeah, an action movie (or movies, in this case) with cutting edge effects, a relatively engrossing plot, and a whole lot of philosophy = a good movie in my book.
The idea of humans being machines but with biological software is an interesting one. Not being that well versed in that subject at the time, led me to do a bunch of follow-up reading afterwards.
I hope you enjoy it. We actually laughed out loud at parts--I don't do that very often. And did I mention that Hugh Grant is---yummy?
Dancebug
Well-Known Member
Why did they make these Japanese speak English in the movie? What do you think about that?
motardmom
New Member
I'm guessing it was because the number of people who speak Japanese is far outstripped by the number or people who speak English. (Speaking from a marketing standpoint...) Japanese is a wonderful language... but...
DWise1
Well-Known Member
As a form of torture?
From "Moscow on the Hudson": Tell me, after speaking English all day, does your mouth hurt too?
Years before in college, a friend from Yugoslavia had said that when she was learning English in school her mouth hurt after every English class.
But seriously, I thought that the movie was made for the English-speaking market. If they were targeting the French, then the actors would have been speaking French.
Trivia learned from PBS' three-part biography of Buster Keaton: They used to shoot the same film several times, each time in a different language. Supporting parts would be played by native speakers, but the lead actors were in each version, having learned their foreign lines phonetically. I once saw such a film, Laurel and Hardy in Spanish.
No movies to report. No one to go with. No time to rent one and be sure I can watch it that same day. So whatever I can catch on HBO or Showtime.
Dancebug
Well-Known Member
I guess that is why. But I think the movie lost something because of that.
tanya_the_dancer
Well-Known Member
Maybe because not all actors spoke Japanese? Besides, the target audience was English-speaking.
It was nice, though, with the original "Shall we dance" that they made subtitles instead of dubbing it. I think it preserved some cultural feel of the movie, which would have been lost otherwise.
Dancebug
Well-Known Member
Exactly my point.
DWise1
Well-Known Member
Not just the cultural feel, but also the sense of the dialogue would be lost. I found the mixing of English into the Japanese to be interesting.
Tamako-sensei would sometimes count in English, sometimes in Japanese. Plus her "slow, slow, quick quick". And Mia's [name?] final invitation in English of "Shall we dance, Mr. ___?" (sorry, forgot his name) would have also been lost if it had been dubbed.
Years ago I saw a French movie that had been dubbed into English. In one scene, the guy meets with his tutor for an English lesson. Needless to say, the whole scene didn't make any sense at all to an English-speaking audience.
Similarly, I saw Cabaret in Germany dubbed into German. Remember when he first meets Sally and she stumbles through broken German before bursting out in English that she's just dying for a cigarette. Same thing in the German version, only she goes from broken German to fast and fluent German.
I can't understand why people hate subtitling so much. The only disadvantage I see to it is that when I'm watching one at home I have to keep my eyes on the screen, whereas if it's in English then I can work on something and still follow what's happening by listening.
Up-side to subtitling: One Scandanavian country -- Sweden, I think -- shows programming from other countries all subtitled, even cartoons for the children. They have one of the highest literacy rates.
Tamako-sensei would sometimes count in English, sometimes in Japanese. Plus her "slow, slow, quick quick". And Mia's [name?] final invitation in English of "Shall we dance, Mr. ___?" (sorry, forgot his name) would have also been lost if it had been dubbed.
Years ago I saw a French movie that had been dubbed into English. In one scene, the guy meets with his tutor for an English lesson. Needless to say, the whole scene didn't make any sense at all to an English-speaking audience.
Similarly, I saw Cabaret in Germany dubbed into German. Remember when he first meets Sally and she stumbles through broken German before bursting out in English that she's just dying for a cigarette. Same thing in the German version, only she goes from broken German to fast and fluent German.
I can't understand why people hate subtitling so much. The only disadvantage I see to it is that when I'm watching one at home I have to keep my eyes on the screen, whereas if it's in English then I can work on something and still follow what's happening by listening.
Up-side to subtitling: One Scandanavian country -- Sweden, I think -- shows programming from other countries all subtitled, even cartoons for the children. They have one of the highest literacy rates.
MacMoto
Active Member
Yes the main characters were played by Chinese actresses -- casting was very much a marketing decision (use well known faces rather than getting Japanese actresses to play the roles), and that made it impossible to shoot the movie in Japanese.
In the last couple of months I saw Apocalipto (not a word of English), Babel (English, Spanish, Japanese, Berber, Arabic, French) and Blood Diamond (English, Krio, Mende, Afrikaans). Surely the English speaking audience is getting more used to reading subtitles now?
tanya_the_dancer
Well-Known Member
One problem I have with subtitles, is that sometimes I have to strain my eyes too much to read them. They're usually in the bottom of the screen. If something gets into that area, which is same color as the titles... Maybe it is more of a problem for me because I am nearsighted. I don't remember this being a problem in "Shall we dance", but I remember having an issue with this when I watched "White" from "Blue, White and Red" trilogy.