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May 24, 2009

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To my everlasting surprise, that movie actually made it out here, too. People were referring to it as "Twilight, Done *Right*".

Unfortunately, it showed up pretty much as the height of the AIDS benefit insanity, and I was not able to sneak out and see it.

Susan, I saw this a couple of months ago, and I saw the subtitled version, which I did not think was awful.* I definitely read Eli as female, and in fact, when Oskar spies on her changing, both my husband and I were pretty certain that there was a brief glimpse of, er, girl parts, which we found pretty surprising. I'm pretty sure that she was denying being a girl either from a humanity POV, or from having been 12 for so long that she should technically be a woman.

We also read her relationship with Oskar as one in a long string... but will not say why, so as to continue to avoid spoilers for the others.

I felt that the movie was a little too slow at times, but I did enjoy the different take on vampires.

*Having seen the subtitled versions of Noir and The Story of Ricky, I have a higher-than-usual threshold for subtitles to be bad.

AJ... I have a higher-than-usual threshold for subtitles to be bad

It's especially disconcerting to watch a movie with subtitles when you understand both languages. I don't quite get why there are differences in what's being said when they don't have to be concerned with matching the words to within how long the actor's lips move. And we know that French likes using many long words to say what's noticeably shorter in English.

Serge,
I've been in that position once or twice with a film in French, which I don't speak fluently but can pick up enough of to realize when there are major discrepancies.

(rot13'ing a spoilery discussion)

AJ,
Qvq lbh nyfb guvax gung znlor gur thl jub jnf cebivqvat ure oybbq ivn fyvggvat guebngf va gur jbbqf ng gur ortvaavat hfrq gb or n avpr lbhat obl yvxr Bfxne?

Serge, for some reason that only made sense to my husband and our friend Alex, when the four of us (me, hub, Alex, and his friend Ana) watched The Story of Ricky, it was decided that we should watch it dubbed and with subtitles on... I guess for a dose of double badness. The subtitles rarely matched the dubbing. For instance, in the subtitles, everyone was referred to by their Chinese names, but in the dubbing, they'd all been given Western names. And at several points, "God Damn You" was turned into "Assistant Warden!!!!" but that was years ago, so I can't remember which was dubbed and which was subbed.

Susan, I'm going to have to go figure out what rot13 is (I'm assuming "rotate 13" so that each letter is halfway across the alphabet?) and see if there's some sort of lazy translation tool, so I can read that and respond to you :)

AJ:
rot13.com. It works both directions.

AJ... "God Damn You" was turned into "Assistant Warden!!!!"

That person's Universal Translator needs a serious tuneup.

Susan:

Gung vf rknpgyl jung jr gubhtug! Uhfonaq pnzr gb gur pbapyhfvba naq gbyq zr, naq V nterrq. Vg'f ernyyl gur bayl rkcynangvba sbe jul ur jnf jvyyvat gb qb jung ur qvq sbe ure, hayrff ur jnf ure sngure, juvpu ur qvqa'g frrz gb or.

Serge:

It was said in an angry, fist-shaking manner AT the assistant warden. My guess is that the original dialog was along the lines of damning him, but that whoever did the translation didn't want to use offensive language... which is really hilarious, considering that it's widely considered to be the most over-the-top gory martial arts movie ever.

AJ... So, buckets of blood are okay, but harsh language isn't? That reminds me of an early-1990s issue of Cinefantastique that had a picture of the naked torso of a woman that was extremely bloody, and with her midriff chewed open. Pretty gross, but it was hard not to laugh at the photo: the magazine's editor had covered the nipples with little black squares, presumably because he wanted to spare our sensibilities.

AJ,
Vg znxrf jung V gubhtug jnf n cbfvgvir raqvat vagb fbzrguvat engure perrcl, gubhtu: ybbx jung ur'yy or va guveglvfu lrnef. Gung znxrf zr fnq. V qba'g jnag gb oryvrir vg. V jbaqre vs vg jnf fcryyrq bhg va zber qrgnvy va gur obbx. Fur qvqa'g unir gb unir cvpxrq gur thl hc jura ur jnf n xvq, gubhtu, be gb unir orra va jungrire sbez bs ybir fur naq Bfxne ner va; sbe nyy jr xabj fur unf rabhtu inzcver zntargvfz/ulcabgvfz/qbzvanapr gb whfg npdhver "Erasvryqf."

Gur jubyr vqrn gung ur vf gur shgher bs Bfxne chgf n irel plavpny fcva ba gur gvgyr, gbb: gur "evtug bar" vf whfg fbzrbar jub'f hfvat lbh naq jvyy riraghnyyl qrfgebl lbh. Fb zhpu sbe ybir!

Susan,

Pnyy zr plavpny, ohg V pna bayl frr guerr cbffvoyr bhgpbzrf sebz gurve eryngvbafuvc.

1: Bfxne orpbzrf nabgure Ervasryq
2: Bfxne tebjf hc naq qrpvqrf ur jnagf n jbzna uvf bja ntr, jub ur pna or jvgu jvgubhg frrzvat yvxr n crqbcuvyr
3: Bfxne trgf ghearq vagb nabgure 12 lrne byq inzcver naq gur gjb bs gurz yvir va n crecrghny fgngr bs gjrrarff, juvpu vf zl vqrn bs Uryy.

Naljnl, vs bhe uhapurf ner evtug, naq vs gur obbx cbegenlf guvatf va gur fnzr yvtug, gura gur bevtvany gvgyr bs "Yrg Zr Va" frrzf zber nccebcevngr, nf vg pbairlf gur fbeg bs pbzznaqvat cerfrapr gung fur jnf va Ervasryq'f yvsr, naq jvyy cerfhznoyl or va Bfxne'f.

Be V pbhyq or bire-guvaxvat guvatf :)

1: Bfxne orpbzrf nabgure Erasvryq

Gung'f jung V jnf thrffvat/qernqvat/fbeebjvat bire.

2: Bfxne tebjf hc naq qrpvqrf ur jnagf n jbzna uvf bja ntr, jub ur pna or jvgu jvgubhg frrzvat yvxr n crqbcuvyr

V'z guvaxvat Ryv jbhyqa'g or ovt ba yrggvat crbcyr yrnir, rfcrpvnyyl crbcyr jub xabj ure frpergf.

3: Bfxne trgf ghearq vagb nabgure 12 lrne byq inzcver naq gur gjb bs gurz yvir va n crecrghny fgngr bs gjrrarff, juvpu vf zl vqrn bs Uryy.

Lbhef, creuncf, ohg vf vg gurvef? Gur dhrfgvba sbe zr vf jurgure Ryv vf na nqhyg zvaq genccrq va n puvyq'f obql (yvxr Pynhqvn va Vagreivrj jvgu gur Inzcver) naq sehfgengrq gurerol, be jurgure fur'f bayl tbg n puvyq'f njnerarff naq ynpx bs sbergubhtug, juvpu V guvax vf ng yrnfg fbzrjung fhttrfgrq va gur svyz.

Naljnl, vs bhe uhapurf ner evtug, naq vs gur obbx cbegenlf guvatf va gur fnzr yvtug, gura gur bevtvany gvgyr bs "Yrg Zr Va" frrzf zber nccebcevngr, nf vg pbairlf gur fbeg bs pbzznaqvat cerfrapr gung fur jnf va Ervasryq'f yvsr, naq jvyy cerfhznoyl or va Bfxne'f.

Ohg gung'f bayl gur gvgyr gur obbx jnf choyvfurq haqre va Ratyvfu. Va gur bevtvany Fjrqvfu, vg jnf gur shyy Yåg qra eäggr xbzzn va.

Be V pbhyq or bire-guvaxvat guvatf :)

Jung, lbh unir fbzrguvat orggre gb qb? :)

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