"Relax, it's only subtitles!?"

[carpaltonnel]

Once in a while, a foreign film will fall into your lap that you fall madly in love with. You tell all your friends or anyone who will listen, "You have to see this movie!" And what happens 9 out of 10 times? "Nahhhh, thanks though-or "If I wanted to read i'd get a book" - or my favorite, "Is that the movie with the words all over the screen?"
I look them straight in the eye, slap them across the face...(well no, I don't do that ) ...and say, "Relax, it's only subtitles!?"
The best of the best in Foreign Films in your opinion, and why.

[uziel5000]

I can't really talk about a best one. I really haven't seen so many foreign films compared to how many american films I have watched but my favorite so far is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

I'm not really into that type of film (those everybody-flies-kung-fu type of films) and after watching CTHD I went and saw a whole bunch of them thinking they were the same but I was a bit dissapointed. It was interesting to see the different techniques and production values that are important in chinese cinema but apart from some early Jet-Li and some Donnie Yen stuff I thought they were not even close to CTHD.

[mikejet]

None of my friends complain about subs. Even in Anime they prefer to hear the original Japanese audio as opposed to the American tracks. The exceptions would be the Miyazaki films as they are usually of high quality.

Expecially Kiki's since that was Phil Hartman's last work. May he RIP.

[JamesKurtovich]

I'm learning to speak Russian so I am discovering films created in the USSR during the 60's, 70's, and the 80's. There's a lot of very good ones, I can't believe Soviet film is hardly known or talked about today. These movies are cherished by Russian people all over the world.

Ironiya Sudby ili s Lyogkim Parom! (Traditionally watched every new year.)
Moskva Slezam Ne Verit
Sluzhebny Roman
Zhestoky Romans
Briliantovaya Ruka

Modern Russian cinema is more or less a clone of American Hollywood, but some very good titles arise, such as Dnevnoi Dozor and Nochnoi Dozor (Day and Night Watch), Vozvrashcheniye (The Return), Bumer, Bumer: Film Vtoroy, Brat 1, and Brat 2.

Definitely better if you can understand the words spoken, as some things do get lost in translation. Especially whoever did the subtitles and whether or not they're very good. Also.. some foreign films are hard to understand because there are culture differences. Some dialogue might not be understood by a foreigner or some motives of characters might seem obscure.

Asian films are also great. These are some of my favorites.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring
3-Iron
Seven Samurai
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Akira (animated)
Grave of the Fireflies (animated)
Battle Royale

Other great subtitled films include The Passion of the Christ, Apocolypto, Pan's Labyrinth, and Oldboy.. etc.

[P@t_Mtl]

I know one person like that. I prefer watching with the subtitles because I do not like dubs.

[Sussudio]

pan's labyrinth and THE ORPHANAGE! love this movie

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

pan's labyrinth and THE ORPHANAGE! love this movie

Agree, The Orphanage was badass!! It's not your typical horror movie!

[RSuarez]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

pan's labyrinth and THE ORPHANAGE! love this movie

I remember reading in Amazon a lot of negative customer reviews for Pan's Labyrinth because of it being in spanish... ????????????????

The movie was one of the best I've seen and a lot of people are missing it only because it is not in English!

I like foreign films and I prefer watching them subtitled than watching them dubbed.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by RSuarez

I remember reading in Amazon a lot of negative customer reviews for Pan's Labyrinth because of it being in spanish... ????????????????

The movie was one of the best I've seen and a lot of people are missing it only because it is not in English!

I like foreign films and I prefer watching them subtitled than watching them dubbed.

negative? seriously? it was incredible.

[STARSCREAM]

When my wife and I went to see Pan's Labyrinth I didn't know if it would have English dubs or not and then we found out when it started it wouldn't and had subtitles the whole time. At first we were kinda like ugh, but then as the movie went we found ourselves lost in the wonderful story, background, characters, scenery, etc. and didn't even think about the subtitles again until the movie was over. Excellent movie.

[toef]

Der Untergang (Downfall)

Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Das Boot (The Boat)

are the only ones I own.

But other good ones:

Rashomon
Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief)

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by STARSCREAM

When my wife and I went to see Pan's Labyrinth I didn't know if it would have English dubs or not and then we found out when it started it wouldn't and had subtitles the whole time. At first we were kinda like ugh, but then as the movie went we found ourselves lost in the wonderful story, background, characters, scenery, etc. and didn't even think about the subtitles again until the movie was over. Excellent movie.

i'm the same way. i notice the subtitles in the beginning, then as the movie progresses i just forget about them and they become part of the movie.

[J_UNTITLED]

Originally Posted by Audiophile_At_Birth

Agree, The Orphanage was badass!! It's not your typical horror movie!

To me, it feels more like a supernatural drama than a full-out horror film.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by J_UNTITLED

To me, it feels more like a supernatural drama than a full-out horror film.

i concur. it was so much better than an american horror film that just aims to scare and shock you. orphanage was much more sophisticated, instead instilling a chilling feeling of uneasiness throughout the movie with rarely any unnecessarily stupid "JUMP" moments.

[upswiseass]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

pan's labyrinth and THE ORPHANAGE! love this movie

My thoughts exactly on both of those films, and add the Devil's Backbone to that list. No del Toro affiliation, but I also enjoyed the Host.

[ScarredLungs]

I may be a minority here, but i can not stand sub titles. I've seen a few with sub titles, and i never seen aa movie that has been dubbed. I guess movies with sub titles would be better then those with the voices dubbed.... i generally just avoid those movies.

[Red Hood]

Rather have subs. Pan's and Outlaw star.

[plenipote]

Slumdog Millionare!

[jsteinhauer]

While we watch a fair number of foreign language movies with subtitles (never dubs), we (my wife and I) agree that there is a certain amount of work involved in watching subtitled movies, and you often don't get to focus your visual attention on the picture. If the movie is good, though you notice them less.

There is a certain art to subtitling; they have to be well paced, both so you have time to read and so you have time to actually see the movie. There are some Asian movies in which I have found pacing of subs to be a real problem. I have to constantly back up to re-read things that passed by to quickly to read.

The other problems with subtitles is that some translators take creative license with them. Night Watch for instance, they admit that the translator changed the story a little to appeal to American audiences. This is a heinous crime. Admittedly, you can't always translate literally due to cultural differences, but you should not be allowed to change the story.

Other funny things about subs and dubs, especially in Asian movies, the subs will usually use the native names of the characters, while the dubs will often Anglicize the names. So you can watch a sub referring to say, Hua, while the dub will refer to Ann or Sarah.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by carpaltonnel

"Relax, it's only subtitles!?"

I hope that former blu-ray.com member "Caligula" dosen't read this!