Rypro 525

when i saw city of god at the local multiplex, one person walked out. surprisingly when i saw crouching tiger (still in limited release) there was a big crowd, and nobody complained

Groucho

A young couple walked in about 30 minutes late to Crouching Tiger. The girl watched for a few seconds, and asked her boyfriend: "Hey, they're speaking MEXICAN? Is the whole movie like this?"

Boyfriend: "Yep."

Girl: "Let's go."

And they did!

Philip Reuben

LOL!

Jackskeleton

ever have or see walkouts because of subtitles?


Yes, a couple of times. Some people really for some reason don't like to read during a film. I think it's because people see movies as just a form of entertainment that you should leave your brain at the door? Don't know really.

tasha99

I wouldn't assume someone was walking out because of the subtitles unless they said so. Maybe they smelled something bad or maybe someone's two year old was bugging them or maybe . . . .

tasha

Debaser

Not really sure since I was too busy reading the subtitles.

Not related to the OP but I remember seeing a late 20's couple- a woman reading aloud to her boyfriend the subtitles to CTHD. That was very strange.

Rammsteinfan

I think so in Hero that or they didnt get it. About 15 mins into it about 5 ppl in a group all walked out.

MrPeanut

...or maybe they found that watching preteens executing each other was not a pleasant way to spend an afternoon?

harosa

maybe they just started falling asleep during the movie.

Breakfast with Girls

More likely, they're just not very good at reading. Meaning, they can't read AND watch the visuals, only one or the other.

MahatmaPetey

i haven't seen walkouts, but i've seen people returning movies at Hollywood Video PISSED because no one told them they were renting a subtitled movie.

gcribbs

I actually do not like movies with subtitles. I can watch and enjoy them although I do not prefer to watch my movies this way.

I am one of those who prefer to sit back and enjoy a movie. I do not like to spend my time reading during them.

I thought Hero was OK. I think I would have liked it better had I been able to just watch it and understand the Chinese.


Waits for the stones

Numanoid

I refuse to watch a movie if I can't view it in its original language (which, of course, means subtitled for non-English films). So much is conveyed in intonation and inflection that is lost when dubbed by others.

Having said that, I couldn't say as I've noticed people walk out due to subtitles. Most of the foreign films I've seen theatrically have been in art house type theaters where the patrons are well aware of what they're in for before entering. I can certainly see teens getting hopped up for CTHD or Hero based on the trailers and having a rude awakening once in the theater.

OldBoy

I always thought I would be one to really not like reading and watching at the same time when I saw my first, "Crouching" but when you are so intranced in story and the glory of the movie it really becomes seamless and like you are watching any other movie. I think it might even hit me more because I realize after that I did take in so much optically both written and visual and it was such a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Needless to say I have since seen in the theaters and rented many more subtitled movies and most viewed with grand delight.

DonnachaOne

I work at a movie theater...

Subtitled movies lead to walkouts, complaints, expletives... death threats...

Ah, the magic of movies.

gcribbs

I just said I wanted to kill someone. Not you specifically

Puzznic

I don't think anyone actually "likes" to read subtitles but sometimes you just have to take what you can get and subtitles are the best option. The only dubbing i can take is high quality animation dubs.

Poink

In Richard Roper's book about movie cliches he writes something to the effect of: "In any action movie with foregin villians, one of the grunts will say a line in their native language, and the leader will slap him and say "Fool! This is America, speak English!" thus assuring us that we won't have to read anything for the rest of the movie..."

Subtitles can make or break a movie for the "average" person. I told a number of people about City of God earlier this year when I first saw it, and everyone thought it sounded great, but then it was like "oh.. it's subtitled? that sucks..." and seemed to lose all interest in ever seeing it. One co-worker of mine saw it and liked it, though. His only complaint was the speed of the language/subtitles, which I kind of agree with. I personally find it easier to keep up with Japanese and French movies since they seem to say quite a bit more per sentence than what you have to read. Spanish and some languages are really "fast" and come off as a constant stream of words to people who don't speak it.

tasha99

I love reading subtitles (weird, I know, but I like reading as well as watching movies, and with subtitles I get to do both.) Also, I've studied Japanese, Korean, French and German, and even though I'd have a hard time communicating in some of those languages now, subtitles give me this feeling of "oh yeah, I remember what that means."

I've been known to read aloud to people who want to watch movies but hate subtitles (by that I mean my kids. ). Last month I read "The Eye" to my daughter and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" to my son. Seeing Nausicaa was really cool because it was one of my favorite movies when I lived in Japan. I'd never seen it with subtitles before, so I finally "got" everything. And after watching it with subs, both my son and I watched it in Japanese without subs just for the heck of it (guess we have too much free time this summer . . . )

tasha

Trigger

I like reading subtitles as well.

wendersfan

Probably 75% of the movies I see are subtitled, so I should weigh in here. I HATE reading subtitles. So much of the subtlety of the language is lost. I would prefer that I were fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Japanese, Russian, Farsi, etc., but that's probably never going to happen, so I'm stuck reading subtitles. Still they'r better than English dubs, at least most of the time.

Yakuza Bengoshi

I haven't seen a walkout, but when I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon a woman sitting directly behind me was reading the subtitles aloud to her children. Thankfully, after a few minutes it seemed to dawn on her that the subtitles weren't just for the introduction to the film, and so she gave up. They remained silent for the rest of the film.

chente

I don't mind reading subtitles either. I actually sometimes put them on when watching movies in English, a language which I am fluent in, if the actors are speaking softly or using some kind of slang.

King Jaspo

A little OT but,

From what I understand (I could be wrong), many movies from China have the dialog dubbed in later. The sound is not recorded during the filming. I would not expect this of the higher quality movies such as Hero or CTHD. Though this happens in to smaller degree in most movies.

So even listening to what you think is the original movie dialog, you may be getting a dub. Now even a dub in the intended language is better than an English dub, created in France and placed on a movie from China.

Again this is most likely the lower quality films.

devilshalo

This is why I view subtitled films twice.