After I finished this movie, I ran to IMDB discussion board and expecting some American audience posting a message with this title (what is the point?). But to my disappointment, no one posted it and the point of the movie seemed to be well-understood by people here. It then occurred to me that most Americans don't watch films with subtitles.
lol I came to the thread to say go back to your mindless action movies and hamburgers USAfag, but then I read this, lol, it is true that ppl from the US doesn't like to read with subtitles, they don't want to have to do the effort of reading.
I saw this film recently and found it an outstanding character study. By "point," Americans generally mean the "moral" of the story, or some such. This is not that kind of film because, as you know, two people get away with two different kinds of crimes (robbery and adultery -- assuming that adultery could be classified as a kind of crime against marriage), but they do so only by basically having something on each other for the rest of their lives. It's just a wickedly absorbing exercise in irony.
As far as the subtitles go, people who don't like them are just missing out on a huge chunk of quality films.
I agree. I am fortunate to live in a part of the U.S.(San Francisco Bay Area) where enough people are unafraid of subtitles and hungry for non-Hollywood films that I get a chance to see movies like Revanche. Almost makes the sky-high cost of living here worthwhile.
I wouldn't say that Americans wouldn't get it. Afterall my screening was jamm packed and most of the people seemed to get it. Well, except for one guy who kept asking if that was it while the credits rolled. It just hasn't expanded very far I think is the reason for most Americans not seeing it rather then subs.
I needn't justify it, but I'm an American and some of the greatest films I've seen in the last ten years (from the 21st Century or just films that took me forever to get around to) were foreign films.
Alex didn't have to admit anything to Susanne, he volunteered! He showed her the photo and admitted being the bank robber. There is no blackmail, nor having something over each other. You got it wrong.
I have lived in Spain and Italy for almost 5 years. I have traveled to many other countries in europe as well and seen many movies all over. one thing i noticed is that in europe usually foreign films are be shown dubbed rather than with subtitles. In america foreign films (non english language of course) are almost always shown with subtitles rather than dubbed.
The reason is simple. dubbing drastically changes a movie as you no longer have the full performaces of the actor. it often just seems silly and unwatchable. watching with subtitles keeps the original film delivered by the director in tact. What you could say is that most Americans dont wathc that many foreign films. which may be true. if that is the case its probabaly because america is the home of hollywood and therefore there is a plethora of local films at any given time and thus no need to seek out international films. these local films are big budget block busters and indies. everyone has their own tast but the bottom line is that we dont often need to go the foreign root to find something we are looking for.
I on the other hand understand why it is that, say , italians watch dubbed movies and dont pblame them. the italian film industry is tiny compared to hollywood and even other countries. becuase of this they are forced to watch many foreign films if they are true film buffs because the italian production houses dont put out too much variety. because most of the movies these italian people watch are foreign it makes sense to watch them dubbed. watching a foreign movie with subtitles once in a while is fine, but when most of the mives you watch are subtitles it could be a bit cumbersome. therefore, as the average filmgoer is goin to be entertained, they watch with dubded, its more passive and more easy to be entertained when u dont have to read. no reason to blame them either.
I for one a, a bit of a film buff and therefore watch alot of foreign films. mostly korean, japanese, french, italian and spanish language films. for me its worth putting in the effort to watch a foreign film once in a while when i ma seeking out a great film or a work of art. if i was a casual moviegoer id just watch plain old american english language films.
I think in general in any country most filmgoers are causal. that ebing said, the way you watch movies a s a casual fan will be determined by your nationality. if youre amarican ull watch plain old hollywood flix. if ur say italian, ul watch plain old hollywood flix dubbed and local films in O.V.
to say americans dont watch fims with subtitles cuz they are stupid uncultured or simple is idiotic. there is a huge market for indie films showing foreign films, and a huge amount of illegal foreign film downloads. in fact, given that we produce hundreds so many films in america i think the americans whoare true fans of film do a good out getting out to see alot of films form all over the world. Its easy to take a cheap shot and say americans are philistines especially when u have nothing to back those claims up.
The Germans are the real idiots: they are still living under American occupation, more than half a century after World War II ended. A free people would not tolerate a foreign power having military bases on their soil.
Dubbing American movies makes it easier for Germans to ignore this state of affairs, on a psychological level at least.
Don't judge all of us by the actions of many... I for one LOVE EVERY movie that has subtitles!! I find them more meaningful, funnier, realistic, family orientated, filmed with such integrity... just to name a few of many! If I look at a movie and someone says in that 'oh you're about to be disappointed' tone saying, 'it's foreign and has subtitles,' my response is immediately, 'Fantastic, I'll take it!!' Their face; priceless!! My only concern with subtitles is that as an English speaking person, I'm missing out on something intrinsically significant to a character and/or the essence of a movie.
But I can live with that and will forever continue to watch subtitled movies!!
~ "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." ~ Erich Fromm
You've already revealed yourself as a bigot with your comment about Americans. I merely posed a question designed to prod you to reconsider your blanket condemnation of an entire people. Of course, the question works best if you're German, which I thought to be likely given your German username and your comments about Germany and the German language. If you're some other nationality, Austrian or Swiss perhaps, I could revise the question accordingly.
I have lived in Spain and Italy for almost 5 years. I have traveled to many other countries in europe as well and seen many movies all over. one thing i noticed is that in europe usually foreign films are be shown dubbed rather than with subtitles. In america foreign films (non english language of course) are almost always shown with subtitles rather than dubbed.
All other movies are shown with subtitles, and even the Pixar ones are shown with subtitles in late shows (after 8:00PM), when children don't go.
We are used to watch movies with subtitles, and it truly becomes second nature. A lot of people over here actually understand English without having taken any lessons ever, just by going to the movies.
And I agree with you, whenever I am in Europe and I am forced to watch dubbed movies, it is always a terrible experience. They should really try going the subtitles way.
one thing i noticed is that in europe usually foreign films are be shown dubbed rather than with subtitles.
That's rubbish! I live in the UK and have never, ever seen a dubbed foreign language film play at the cinemas. I've seen films on release in Belgium, France and Germany in non-native languages and they weren't dubbed either.
Be specific please about where and what films you saw dubbed. It most certainly does not apply to 'Europe'.
I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.
If the team that made this movie wanted to make a killing they could do an English language remake with Angelina Jolie or Sandra Bollock as the policeman's wife and perhaps even through in someone like Russel Crowe as the amateur bank robber. They'd also be well advised to add the type of corny Hollywood soundtrack Steven Spielberg and various other makers of Hollywood blockbusters always use. Then they'd be able to pull trillions of US cinema goers.
"lol I came to the thread to say go back to your mindless action movies and hamburgers USAfag, but then I read this, lol, it is true that ppl from the US doesn't like to read with subtitles, they don't want to have to do the effort of reading."
Apparently you don't want to have to put forth the effort to utilize correct grammer, spelling, punctuation or subject-verb agreement.
====================================== I've got better things to do tonight than die!
This movie was the best movie since "Los Bastardos" in terms of it being moral without it trying to show you how to be. That is its authentic in its consequence.
The OP's implication is right, though--if a more mainstream U.S. audience saw this movie most of them would probably think it had no "point" simply because [SPOILER} nobody gets killed in the end even though you're led to expect somebody might.
I'm an American and I thought the movie was great. I actually prefer movies with subtitles as I don't always catch all the words that are spoken in movies that are in my native language.
Speaking as a proud citizen of the USA, one of the most satisfying aspects of this thread is that not a single American wasted their time in arguing with the tired and predictable stereotyping from the America-hating trolls.
Postscript: I'm an electrical engineer from Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and I LOVED the movie. The direction was masterful, and resulted in subtle and nuanced character portrayals which completely immersed me in the story.
Every country has a gigantic population of people who like foreign films, I don't know why the U.S. is always so quick to be dismissed as not liking to read. Maybe it's because Hollywood is there and they assume because studio heads want to remake a foreign film, 300 million people want that as well?
Of course, this may be pointless, because I'm Canadian. I've learned to just dismiss those who don't like foreign films because they have to read. I feel sorry for those people because they're not experiencing the best that cinema has to offer, and that's their problem.
Yes, it says a lot about the posters here that they claim anyone thinking this film was pointless must be a stupid American who hates foreign films. What irony of character that reveals.
I am American - and have lived in 5 different countries. My husband is European. He is a major film buff. We both love foreign films. All sorts of films. And we both hated this. I'm also a writer, for what it's worth, so I definitely "get" character studies.
Contrary to many peoples' snide claims, it is not because it's not formulaic enough for us. A character study is great, but you have to have enough plot to move the forward and take an audience with you. When the main plot for which the movie was named doesn't even begin to be firmly set up until 50min into the movie, you don't have enough plot. That's not difficult to see. You can look at characters as closely as you want, but it should be them doing stuff relevant to the forward-movement of a story. And most of the first half of the film is not.
The film is a series of redundant scenes, where the same points about the characters/their situations are illustrated over and over. And over and over. At least the first 35min of the film could be axed completely.
Plot aside, for a character study, we learn little about the WHY they do the things they do, why they have the lives they have, what brought them to their unsatisfactory lives. It's not enough to see what a character will do TODAY, we should understand - to some intimate extent - why they have come to be who they are, why they feel justified (or wronged, or discontent or...whatever). And we don't get that. So even as a character study, it feels pretty two-dimensional to me.
thank god ptesinge after seeing everyone praise this damn thing on this board I thought I was the only one who could see this. This movie is boring and flawed.
As a fellow Canadian I agree with you. Many people complain about the subtitles and as a result miss out on absolutely fantastic film. I feel fortunate that we are able to see film from around the world which often times trumps some of the offerings at the 'mainstream' theatre. I have enjoyed foreign film since I was a tween and continue to well into my adult years. BTW, to respond to the dubbing thread- I agree that dubbing a film ruins the nuance and takes away from the actor's delivery. I take subtitles any day over dubbing.
Actually just finished it myself here where I'm sitting and did exact same thing as you. Got me a nice laugh from your post. 😊 best movie I've seen in a while.