Pan's Labyrinth

[Chaplin]

I just bought the DVD and it can set it up to play with an English track. This is a great movie and I really felt that it should have won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Because it was nominated for Best Picture, I think the rule states that it couldn't be nominated for Best Foreign Film. It's a bad rule for that particular film, but I'm sure the other nominees in the Foreign Film category didn't complain about it.

 

[Bada0Bing]

The other way to take it a bit more literally is as a tale of dissociation, which is what many children do under intense stress or conflict or ongoing trauma -- enter a more-real-than-reality fantasy world that is somewhat parallel to the intolerable reality, but where things are transformed to be manageable: good triumphs, there are dangers but miraculous escapes happen, and so on. Adults under very extreme duress also sometimes do this, like in prolonged severe pain, or under torture.

The stepping back and forth from one world to the other, the sense that the other world is right there, fits.

This is a movie that hangs around in your head for days.

Very well put. I watched this recently and was thinking along the same lines, I just couldn't have typed it out so well.

 

[1usctrojan]

In the best Fellini-esque tradition (which this is) it doesn't have to be either-or, and it doesn't have to tell us which is when -- or how. Like a great poem, or novel, it can work on many levels. But also, if we are 'in' her dissociation with her, her reality is the 'real' one and we experience it with her.

Just watched this movie last night, finally.....I can't understand why I procrastinated....what a wonderous movie!

Excellent points AZZenny, your experience with this movie mirrors mine....and what I truly appreciated, as a Spanish-speaking individual, is that there was a very minimal loss of the beauty and poetry of the language in translation.

 

[Covert Rain]

Hate to burst your bubble, but frequently even subtitle tracks aren't "on script", let alone dubbing, which is usually worse. I will never understand how anyone can consider themselves a "movie fan" and refuse to watch foreign movies with subtitles. No offense to you, but that is just mind-boggling to me.

How are you bursting my bubble exactly? First off, like many languages sometimes there is no exact translation. So losing something in translation is expected. So if it's subtitled or dubbed the translation is the same. The only difference is now you have to deal with the voice acting.

What I don't understand is when did they come out with rules about being a movie fan that says you have to watch foreign films with subtitles to enjoy them? I actually watched both Life is Beautiful both ways and the dubbing took zero away from the movie. So why it is mind boggling is beyond me if it takes nothing away.

I mean, Hong Kong action movies don't have any substance, and they are most always dubbed, but I'd much rather see them with subtitles--because an actor's voice is also a big part of their performance, regardless of the language. Can you imagine someone OTHER than Samuel L. Jackson dubbed over his Ezekiel speech in Pulp Fiction? Or over just about any line in The Godfather that Brando speaks? I can't even begin to be interested in watching Crouching Tiger dubbed--because there is a certain way that Chow Yun-Fat or Michelle Yeoh or Zang Zhiyi speaks, and it adds to the performance.

Then you have the Jackie Chan dub, which is halfway there, as Jackie will do his own dubbing into English. That helps a lot, but it still makes the rest of the actors look ridiculous.

Between my brother and I we own a ton of martial arts films. More then I care to admit. lol. Also, if you had never heard of the actor or were familiar with them, I doubt you would miss their voice especially if the voice acting were good. I personally would miss SLJ because I am familiar with him. However, I doubt very many people outside the U.S. would.

For me as long as the point or idea is conveyed that works for me. Hell most movies take so many liberties with scripts or books that the final movie script is hardly faithful to the original words anyway. I just don't get hung up on that. It just doesn't detract from my enjoyment of a film. There have been a few movies where I thought the voice acting was horrid and I then watched the subtitles. So I will watch subtitles if need be.

 

[Chaplin]

How are you bursting my bubble exactly? First off, like many languages sometimes there is no exact translation. So losing something in translation is expected. So if it's subtitled or dubbed the translation is the same. The only difference is now you have to deal with the voice acting.

What I don't understand is when did they come out with rules about being a movie fan that says you have to watch foreign films with subtitles to enjoy them? I actually watched both Life is Beautiful both ways and the dubbing took zero away from the movie. So why it is mind boggling is beyond me if it takes nothing away.



Between my brother and I we own a ton of martial arts films. More then I care to admit. lol. Also, if you had never heard of the actor or were familiar with them, I doubt you would miss their voice especially if the voice acting were good. I personally would miss SLJ because I am familiar with him. However, I doubt very many people outside the U.S. would.

For me as long as the point or idea is conveyed that works for me. Hell most movies take so many liberties with scripts or books that the final movie script is hardly faithful to the original words anyway. I just don't get hung up on that. It just doesn't detract from my enjoyment of a film. There have been a few movies where I thought the voice acting was horrid and I then watched the subtitles. So I will watch subtitles if need be.

My apologies, but in Hollywood where I live and work, there is an admittedly elitist attitude where a movie isn't a movie if it's dubbed. The idea is that it panders to people in the midwest who aren't "smart" enough to watch a movie the way a director intended it. In this way, it is similar to the widescreen vs. full screen debate. By the way, do you prefer full screen?

 

[Cheesebeef]

What I don't understand is when did they come out with rules about being a movie fan that says you have to watch foreign films with subtitles to enjoy them?

last tuesday. didn't... you get... that memo?

 

[Chaplin]

last tuesday. didn't... you get... that memo?

Letzte Dienstag. Erhielten Sie nicht dieses Protokoll?

 

[Covert Rain]

My apologies, but in Hollywood where I live and work, there is an admittedly elitist attitude where a movie isn't a movie if it's dubbed. The idea is that it panders to people in the midwest who aren't "smart" enough to watch a movie the way a director intended it. In this way, it is similar to the widescreen vs. full screen debate. By the way, do you prefer full screen?

Hell no. Actually I am an anamorphic widescreen fan myself.

last tuesday. didn't... you get... that memo?

Letzte Dienstag. Erhielten Sie nicht dieses Protokoll?

Speaking in my most sexy voice "Kein ich nicht. Danke für das Bitten."

 

[Linderbee]

Letzte Dienstag. Erhielten Sie nicht dieses Protokoll?

Speaking in my most sexy voice "Kein ich nicht. Danke für das Bitten."

Ich habe das nicht verstanden...

 

[Covert Rain]

Hell no. Actually I am an anamorphic widescreen fan myself.





Speaking in my most sexy voice "Kein ich nicht. Danke für das Bitten."

I meant to say "Nein. Danke für das Bitten.". Like film sometimes there is no direct translation.

 

[mjb21aztd]

I just saw this movie yesterday on cinemax and I must say this is a great film. I thought the acting was very good and the music to go along with the film was excellent. Also the visual effects were amazing the faun was so cool one of my favorite characters, also the girl who played ofelia was great in that role and a great actress. I plan on buying the movie this upcoming weekend along with the soundtrack But I would recomend this movie to anyone who hasnt seen it yet

 

[Mulli]

How could anyone enjoy a dubbed movie over subtitles?



selfwelcometolastweek

 

[mjb21aztd]

subtitles dont bother me for somereason as long as the movie is good. I dont see why people are so annoyed over subtitles

 

[Mulli]

subtitles dont bother me for somereason as long as the movie is good. I dont see why people are so annoyed over subtitles

Me neither. Sometimes, I feel like I can speak chinese, if the subtitles are good.

 

[Gaddabout]

I was surprised to find this movie difficult to watch. No good reason. I didn't think it was a bad movie, but my expectations were probably far too high to let the plot line unfold.

 

[DeAnna]

I just watched it this weekend and all I can way is "WOW!" Fantastic film. It was a sad story, though.

Spoiler

I thought her fantasy was real, so it threw me off when the Captain finally caught up with her in the labryrinth - he didn't see the faun. The camera only shows Ofelia with her back to him, with no one else in the frame.

 

[Renz]

I was surprised how much I liked this movie. I thought it was great! I didn't think it would live up to the hype, but it did, and then some.

Spoiler

I was glad that the fantasies turned out to just be fantasies. It made the story that much more real and poignant.

 

[DeAnna]

that there was a very minimal loss of the beauty and poetry of the language in translation.

True, it was very well translated. I later found out Del Toro himself did the translation.

 

[the donald]

i usually hate subtitles. too many movies have them flash too quickly. but here they put alot there at once, and left it up long enough so you can take in the visual effects of the movie.


and yes the acting was amazing. though i don't know how well they delivered the lines.


oh and i looked it up on IMDB. originally the actress was too old to play ofelia, but del torro was so impressed with her, he changed the script.

 

[AZZenny]

I still think about this movie more often than I'd have expected -- I'm definitely going to buy it. I hope del Toro keeps on this track -- wouldn't it be great for someone to pick up Fellini's mantle, recut to fit for our times of course, but a movie maker who isn't afraid to blow our minds every which way?


I prefer subtitles, generally -- the dubber's acting is rarely anywhere near the actor's. I feel like I get more from the subtle tones and voices and reading the words.

 

[Stout]

I still think about this movie more often than I'd have expected -- I'm definitely going to buy it. I hope del Toro keeps on this track -- wouldn't it be great for someone to pick up Fellini's mantle, recut to fit for our times of course, but a movie maker who isn't afraid to blow our minds every which way?


I prefer subtitles, generally -- the dubber's acting is rarely anywhere near the actor's. I feel like I get more from the subtle tones and voices and reading the words.

Man, that is the ONLY way. Dubbing--you just might as well not even watch.

 

[DeAnna]

I still think about this movie more often than I'd have expected -- I'm definitely going to buy it.

I have on my Ebay watch list, along with another one of his films 'The Devil's Backbone" which I haven't seen. That one sounds very good also.