MovieChat Forums > Suwarôteiru (1996) Discussion > It's mostly English!

It's mostly English!

posted 16 years ago by tripitacha
1 reply | jump to latest

I have become so keen on Japanese cinema (esp. Shunji Iwai), and am learning Japanese, so I try to watch as much as possible. I was shocked to find so much English dialogue! I mean, most Japanese and far Eastern cult classics (Ichi The Killer, Lady Vengeance, Last Life In The Universe, etc) feature some English dialogue, but I was dumbfounded by the massive amount of English, esp. scenese like the American born dude with the long hair being unable to understand Mandarin, and the Mandarin dude unable to understand Japanese and the... I'm confused, but basically, this film is a myriad of correlatins of languages, and I'm certain it wasn't intended for Englsh speaking audiences. The scene where Ageha is getting the tattoo is entirely fluent English, which was so strange to watch I think.

Getting the bus saves time but it sure don't lengthen yr life! - Harvey Pekar

[–] Shinryu83 14 years ago

Yeah, I've noticed other directors, specifically Japanese, have done this kind of multi-language thing - for instance Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence is half in English and half Japanese (with Tom Conti and Ryuichi Sakamoto's characters alternating between languages). Another one is Miike's Dead or Alive 3, which is English, Japanese and Mandarin if I remember correctly.

Western directors are doing this too - Tarantino with Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs, or Iñárritu with Babel. It's a good thing IMO; just more genuine than pretending everyone is on instant-translate. But then again I'm one of those people who would take subs over dubs any day.

"Most men complacently accept 'knowledge' as 'truth'. They are sheep, ruled by fear."