Lost in Translation: Dubbing Movies Into Foreign Languages

Sebastian here with a heartfelt criticism of dubbing movies for foreign markets.

Lake Bell in "In a World…," which isn't about dubbing, but it's a great movie and I needed a picture here.

This Monday I took a four hour train ride to see a movie.

I've done crazier things in the name of cinephilia. A few years ago I coerced my friends to take a day trip to Strasbourg just so I could see Steve McQueen's Shame three months before it opened here in Germany. But this time it was't about some small independent film. This time I went to all this trouble to watch a movie called Avengers: Age of Ultron. Maybe you've heard of it?

The superhero sequel had already been playing in German cinemas for a week and it's even playing in my small town. So why go elsewhere?

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Tim's Toons: Soviet Propaganda Sampler Platter

Tim here. It's the first of May, and of course that can only mean one thing! ...oh, right, the new Avengers opens. Yeah, it means that too. But the thing is, the whole internet is going to be around to talk about Avengers: Age of Ultron, all weekend and probably all next week, and by then it will be time to talk about its sequels and spin-offs till the heat death of the universe.

So for right now, it's May Day, or International Workers Day for the anarcho-socialists in the crowd. Sort of like Labor Day's burlier, more aggressively political sibling, it's the kind of holiday that can only be celebrated in one way: animated Soviet propaganda! So please, won't you join me on a brief tour of some of the best - or at least, the most interesting - snippets of propagandistic Soviet cartoons? I promise that it's fascinatingly weird...

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"It's for people."

It's quite possible that you'll love David Lynch as much as David Lynch loves coffee after watching this commercial. (If you don't already that is.) 

Visual Index ~ Bright Star's 'Best Shots'

We're almost to the mid season finale of Hit Me With Your Best Shot. This week's episode looks at Jane Campion's sorely underseen Bright Star (2009). The romantic drama about the poet John Keats and his unconsummated love with the headstrong Fanny Brawne was lost in the 2009 shuffle, but is a true beauty and a worthy entry in Jane Campion's tremendous filmography. It introduced the film world to the then 34 year old DP Greig Frasier, who had previously made shorts and obscure features, before Campion's film provided his breakthrough. He went on to plum assignments like Foxcatcher, Zero Dark Thirty and Snow White and the Huntsman. Frasier has yet to be Oscar-nominated but he's already one of the best DPs in the business.

Even more impressive, given that Bright Star is such a successfully intimate portrait of new love, is that the movie introduced its star Ben Whishaw to its film composer Mark Bradshaw; they were married just three years later. 

Bright Star's Best Shots
11 images chosen by 13 participants
(in the order the articles came in this time)
Click on the pictures for their corresponding articles 

One of the prettiest things I've ever seen.
-Zitzelfilm

Bright Star is all about the subtle touches of skin..."
-A Fistful of Films 

...so many beautiful images that also happen to be encapsulations of the universal aspects of falling in love"
-Coco Hits NY

What is it that she spies beyond the boundaries of her domesticity, fenced off by windows and hidden behind opaque curtains?"
-Lam Chop Chop 

In a film with mostly subdued feelings, this particular scene is electric with emotions..."
-Sorta That Guy

The years have been kind to the film..."
-Film Actually

This is the first time i’ve done a HMWYBS where I was absolutely disinterested with a film..."
- I Want to Believe

Fanny, trapped and bleached of color, but already pushing against her confines with a creative act."
-Anne Marie, The Film Experience 

a film about four things: romance, Romanticism, being outside, and costuming..."
-Antagony & Ecstasy 

What is young love if not...
-Evan Stewart

I truly and deeply hope that more people will seek this film out."
-Movie Nut

 Unrequited love...
-Hey Norge

Campion has rightfully earned a reputation as a fiercely feminist filmmaker..."
-The Entertainment Junkie 

NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT IS THE MID-SEASON FINALE. YOU HAVE A CHOICE OF ONE OF THREE MOVIES FOR THE ORSON WELLES CENTENNIAL:  CITIZEN KANE, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS or THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. See something you've always meant to see and pick a shot. You won't regret it. 

April. It's a Wrap

We're so ready for sunshine and summer movie season! But let's wrap up April first ICYMI... not the whole month but the highlights. We work hard providing fresh content daily so we don't want you to miss anything. There's always something new. And... uh... old. Maybe we went a little overboard on the sudden Joan Crawford fetishizing this month but it happens. The actress fetishes. It's best to just let them play out. They're not going to be ignored, Dan.

Most Popular
Y'all seemed to like the Team Top Ten for Best Sci-Fi films Parts 1 and Part 2 i.e. before and after the populist dam-bursting of 1977's Star Wars & Close Encounters. That sci-fi madness came with a robust Artificial Intelligence fascination that's also going on at the multiplex (Avengers / Ex Machina). The other most popular feature was the return of the Ask Nathaniel Q&As for which I am flattered and must thank you for your participatory enthusiasm (another belated one very soon). It was fun to talk favorite crazy characters, missing Buffy & Battlestar Galactica, and dream screen-to-stage plays. Regarding the latter: I'm now fully obsessed with my Contact idea; I'm brilliant!

Oscar Predictions
The first wave which we affectionately call April Foolish Predictions because it's dumb to start so early are up. Dig into the charts and discuss (The remainder hit tomorrow)

Monthly Playlist
Our listening pleasures this month were showtunes. Margaret eased on down the road with her amazing and creative dream-casting of The Wiz's upcoming remake. Plus, it's Tony Season so Broadway is naturally on the brain. We're rooting for "Fun Home" based on the life of cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Aside from the showtunes we got our fingers tapping to Dolly Parton's immortal earworm "9 to 5".

"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley"
You didn't sign the guestbook so we don't know if you enjoyed the amenities and conditions of your 5 day stay with us but we had a ball serving you Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca all the same: Day 1 a meet-rude courtship; Day 2 your new home and old (bitter) staff; Day 3 ooh, lingerie; Day 4 a costume ball mistake; Day 5 a trial by fire. We're eager to do this relay-revisit again but we need to find the right movie that's entertaining in all of its subsections.

Other Key Posts
The Walk -can you handle the vertigo?
Jane Campion - Anne Marie revisited 5 of her features
Taxi Driver - is it actually about the movies? I think so
Michelle Pfeiffer - she's shopping around a TV sitcom
Movie Amigurumi - we want every one of these brilliant crotchet dolls
Art Movies - these 5 paintings deserve the Woman in Gold movie treatment (only, uh, better movies) 
Furious 7 - Michael reviewed the behemoth hit and didn't disappoint

Getting worked up over the lack of realism on display is like chastising a toddler smashing his Tonka trucks together because, actually, that’s not how to use a cement mixer properly. 

Hot Piece(s) o' the Month 
Hathaway as Miley - that lipsynching! Cox as Daredevil - those lips!

Coming in The Lusty Month of May
Favorite sex scenes, Orson Welles Centennial tribute, rising actor David Dastmalchian, Avengers-mania, and a 1979 retrospective to coincide with the Supporting Actress Smackdown.