MovieChat Forums > Secret in Their Eyes (2015) Discussion > A question for the folks who live in the...

A question for the folks who live in the States

posted 9 years ago by dbroggi
56 replies | jump to latest

Guys, i have an honest question
Are foreign movies really that rejected in the states? From all the talking I've seen here you don't seem to have movie theaters screening european, latin american, african or asian movies that often.
The same goes to movies with subtitles. Is it really impossible to find them?
I do understand some movies having a hard time geting to other countries. It is actually sad because many powerful works of art don't get to touch as many people they could... But El Secreto de tus Ojos was not only a powerful movie, but a major success!
I love movies and I thing I was born in the perfect city for that. We have all sorts of movie festivals and all kinds of genres! But I guessed folks from cities such as NY, Washington,LA and Chicago for instance would also have access to this kind of cosmopolitan cultural heritage and would profit from it. I've been to NY and you guys have some of the best museums in the planet! Movie theaters can't be that behind!
I won't deal with the Secret in their eyes issue anymore. The damage was done... If IMDB is only about teen movies these days, there is no point in having such discussion.

[–] YYMBRrecords 9 years ago

Yeah in my opinion unfortunately American audiences hate anything in subtitles. I have seen around 2500 movies and used to work at Blockbuster for 3.5 years. I had tons of people who would ask opinions on movies and as soon as I said it had subtitles they were like 'ugh well i am not watching that.' Granted these were like blue collar people that don't appreciate any form of art but I feel that is the majority of movie watchers here. I don't have a problem with subtitles at all and love a ton of foreign films. I feel I am definitely in the minority and will say that the only American's watching movies with subtitles are like film buffs or people that watch more than just action or comedies. I should also add that I have seen the original and liked it quite a bit and I think the english version will probably be good too.

[–] The-ManWithNoName 9 years ago

Yeah, most major cities have at least a couple theaters that play foreign films. They're usually labeled "independent" film theaters. However, and unfortunately, most of the population would rather not watch subtitles. I happen to really enjoy foreign films and watch them all the time. It's kind of hard to get people into them though. Although, I see it coming around more so than in the past.

Secret in their eyes was a great film. I hope they don't *beep* this up. I actually don't like most remakes. I always give them a fair shot, but If I'm very familiar with the original, then I'm constantly comparing it to that and it very rarely lives up to the original.

A good example would be True Grit, Pusher (Horrible remake), The girl with a dragon Tattoo (Although I didn't hate it), ect....

You're not a writer Fink, you're a goddamn write off

[–] kinglet 9 years ago

Loved the original but the U.S. isn't the only country that remakes good movies (and copies TV shows) from other countries. Case in point: You can go to Netflix and find a British version of the original Swedish crime series Wallander, an American (and better) version of the Norwegian thriller Insomnia, etc.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and that will never change. I loved The Nine Queens in its original Argentine version and thought the remake was a couple notches down.

As for subtitles, Americans don't grow up with them and I've always felt there's a lot of aversion to them. Some of that may be because so many of us remember lousy subtitling from years ago; dim letters that made it almost impossible to read the subtitles, and whole chunks of dialog in the soundtracks that clearly weren't being translated at all in the subs. I think a lot of people got put off on them at a relatively young age. People who've never seen a subtitled movie probably assume it's as bad as closed captioning, which plagues our television shows and a lot of cable newscasts.

And then there's the issue of how many people are even capable of enjoying a subtitled move. I would imagine anyone with dyslexia would struggle to keep up and I would find that frustrating if it was my experience. Others may just be poor readers, a too-common result of our public school system in a lot of places. I did just read one guy complaining about subtitled movies last week - his justification for not seeing them was that he "didn't want to read a novel". That's such an odd excuse I wondered if he had a reading problem of some kind. I'd hardly liken subtitles to reading a novel or any kind of text; you have actual actors onscreen who provide tone, body language, emotional context and physical humor. Hardly the same thing, but that was one man's excuse.

Bottom line is, I doubt large numbers of Americans will ever accept subtitled movies and clearly Hollywood thinks so too. We're a big country and there are relatively few art house theaters that even book foreign films - generally if you live in a more rural area you're out of luck unless you can afford Netflix, and the sad thinning of their library of foreign and classic films in favor of more current movies and TV shows indicates a lot of subscribers weren't renting the former.

I'm just hoping this will be a worthy successor to the original film.

[–] lannaheim 9 years ago

Your question is a fair one. In my experience, the answer is yes. Americans are too stupid to watch foreign films -- part of it may be that they can't read that fast (and of course, hardly any Americans speak more than one language). Although I watch many, many foreign movies with subtitles, I am in a tiny minority. The original Latin film was excellent, and I, also, was surprised to read that it is being redone. Obviously the plot is being modified, too, to suit the plain-vanilla palate of the American public.

[–] public-online 9 years ago

Your "experience" sounds very limited. FYI, watching a foreign film doesn't require any superior intelligence. All major cities have independent movie venues, and all college towns regularly organize screenings of foreign films. Unlike Germany, France, Japan and quite a few other countries, in the US foreign movies aren't systematically dubbed (incl on TV). So if you believe Americans to be "slow readers", I guess you must also believe that the French, the Germans and the Japanese are illiterate since they dub everything.

hardly any Americans speak more than one language

A quarter of Americans are 1st or second generation immigrants, which means that English isn't their first language and that they're at the very least bilingual.
Any more stupid clichés you'd like to share?

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 9 years ago

"El secreto de sus ojos" is an amazing and powerful film.
It is sad that the copyright owners (I'm guessing both Eduardo Sacheri and Juan José Campanella) prefers $$$$ over taent and sold their rights to anyone in Hollywood.
I don't think many people here in Chile will watch this, we all already seen "El secreto de sus ojos" back in 2009-2010.
But teenagers will go, just like that crappy version of "Abre los ojos".

It amazes me that just a few people from USA has actually answered this honest question.

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language IMDb = Catch-22

[–] conway3000 9 years ago

I saw this film from Argentina. It won many awards including the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Usually Americans can see the Oscar winning Best Foreign Film as they appear in theaters. I have seen some wonderful foreign films. Unfortunately I think I am out of the ordinary. Let's hope the US film makers will not ruin the impact of this film. They certainly attracted top notch actors and clearly rewrote the script.

[–] strikedown 9 years ago

I don't think foreign movies are rejected, as much as not pursued or known. I can't speak for EVERYONE, but from my interactions with other people about movies, if it isn't from Hollywood...then they don't know about it. And if they have to read subtitles...don't even bother trying to talk them into watching it...even if it's dubbed in English.

Two years ago, I heard about this little foreign movie called, Oldboy. I don't know where I heard of it or why I decided to, but I watched it. And that opened a brand new door of movies I never knew existed. A flood gate, if you will. My entire life, I thought of foreign films as nothing more than love stories. Every one, every time. I never, ever wanted to watch a foreign film. But that changed. And these aren't just any movies, these are movies that typically blow Hollywood's out of the water. With Oldboy, I found the following movies (in no special order);

I Saw the Devil (and instantly became a Byung-hun Lee fan)
A Bittersweet Life (disc, holder and entire movie & menu is in Korean...gotta get lucky to get the movie to start)
The Chaser
The Yellow Sea
Elite Squad
Eden Lake
The Good, The Bad and The Weird
Three...Extremes
J.S.A.
A Tale of Two Sisters
Livid
Frontier(s)
REC series
Cold Prey I & II
A Company Man
On the Job
The Suspect
Confession of Murder
The Man From Nowhere
Dead Mans Shoes
The Horseman
The Raid
Merantu
The Body
Ichi the Killer
Audition
Visitor Q and
No Tears for the Dead...just to name (quite) a few.

Once I watched one, my taste for foreign films just got more appetizing. And reading subtitles? I could care less. It makes the movie. I even contribute the foreign films I've found to finding lesser known, well-made independent films from USA or abroad for that matter, that I've grown to love as well, such as;

Primer
7 Days
The Collector &
The Collection
Gut
Prowl
Left Bank
The Loved Ones and
Primal, to name a few.

When I found Oldboy, and realized there was this entire other world of movies out there, I got a region free blu ray player. I've been purchasing movies from Amazon UK and Ebay, when I can't find what I'm looking for from U.S. sites. And there are a LOT of movies that can only be purchased from overseas.

I'm constantly trying to find good foreign films, I read more about them, follow actors and directors of foreign films. It's become my new obsession.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

[–] Simian_Jack 9 years ago

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Hsve you looked into Sion Sono or Shinya Tsukamoto? You probably have as you've seen Miike already but thought I'd mention them just in case.

Tsukamoto, I'd recommend Tokyo Fist, Bullet ballet, and A Snake of June. He's best known for the cult movie Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which is an anarchic kick in the head...but not the best representation of his work and not my personal fave. His works are visually stylized, some of them contain an element of fantasy and are mostly fairly somber, always sincere. I'm a big Tsukamoto fan.

Sono is more prolific though only a select few have made it to North America. His tour-de-force is Love Exposure, a four-hour movie that seems at first all over the map from comedy to pathos...yet he pulls it all together. His style is often mildly satirical but he can be emotionally draining.

[–] strikedown 9 years ago

Hsve you looked into Sion Sono or Shinya Tsukamoto? You probably have as you've seen Miike already but thought I'd mention them just in case.

Tsukamoto, I'd recommend Tokyo Fist, Bullet ballet, and A Snake of June. He's best known for the cult movie Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which is an anarchic kick in the head...but not the best representation of his work and not my personal fave. His works are visually stylized, some of them contain an element of fantasy and are mostly fairly somber, always sincere. I'm a big Tsukamoto fan.

Sono is more prolific though only a select few have made it to North America. His tour-de-force is Love Exposure, a four-hour movie that seems at first all over the map from comedy to pathos...yet he pulls it all together. His style is often mildly satirical but he can be emotionally draining.

Thanks man.

I have not heard of either of those directors, with the exception of, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. It's been on my watch list for quite some time. The trailers, for all 3 of those movies, just looks insane...otherwordly. Very unique, strange, not even...I don't know what I'm trying to even say. Ha. I'll certainly look at the movies you mentioned and his other works.

Miike...I have seen quite a few of his movies. I try to follow his upcoming releases.

Sono...I don't think I know anything of him. I'll look into his stuff too and see what might interest me. I'll check out Love Exposure.

Appreciate the suggestions!

[–] ematerso 9 years ago

We like foreign movies as well as those made in the USA/GrBRitain. We don't mind subtitles at all. But we watch on Netflix streamed and seldom go to movie theaters.

[–] mrkmac 9 years ago

I have watched just about everything that Ricardo Darin has been in that I could find and encourage anyone else to do the same. He has the intensity, presence and range that would make him an international star like Bardem, but I believe I read he is happy making movies in Argentina and doesn't need the International fame.

I suppose I will watch this version, but the original was brilliant.