Bloody Subtitles Scandal

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Last night Icon of Fright's Rob G. posted a carefully assembled rant piece about a dumbed-down subtitle problem on the recently released DVD and Bluray of Tomas Alfredson's Let The Right One In, the Swedish vampire film that was praised to the heavens when it came out last fall.

Magnolia Home Entertainment issued the DVD and Bluray on Tuesday, March 10th. The film was theatrically released in the U.S. via Magnet, a Magnolia division geared to releasing the "wild, unquantifiable and uncompromised," according to a 9.11.07 press release. Well, somewhat less wild when it comes to home video.

In a series of screen-grab comparisons between the original DVD screener and the DVD, Mr. G. persuades that the subtitles "have been drastically changed since the last time I saw it, and completely dumbed down."

Except he really means "subtly" rather than "drastically." The "basic gist" of what the characters are saying remains, he says, but "the dark humor, subtleties and character nuances which made the movie so powerful" are "completely missing." And pretty much "every single line of dialogue is completely off" in this respect, which more or less ruins Alfredson's film for anyone who saw it theatrically and remembers it with any particularity.

The original screener says that the subtitles were done by Ingrid Eng. Rob G. has theorized that "in order to re-use the subtitles for the American version of the DVD, Magnolia probably had to pay Ingrid again for her services. Rather than do that, perhaps they hired someone else to do the translations on the cheap."

I tried to post this last night but I was too fagged and shagged. I wrote a highly-placed Magnolia friend this morning to see what the explanation might be.

It's been alleged but nor proven that the Canadian edition from Mongrel Media has Eng's original English subtitles.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 24, 2009 at 4:30 AM

comment #1

D.Z. says ...

So they moved on from dubtitles for Asian films to dubtitles for European films? [Well, they technically started that crap with Night Watch, but I don't have high expectations from Fox Searchlight, anyway.] BTW, Magnolia, I'm still waiting for Triangle.

Posted by D.Z. at March 24, 2009 5:22 AM

comment #2

JT says ...

So who did the subs for the screener verson I DL last year? Glad I saw it in the theater.

Posted by JT at March 24, 2009 5:32 AM

comment #3

BurmaShave says ...

Tragic. I'll wait for the Criterion.

Posted by BurmaShave at March 24, 2009 6:02 AM

comment #4

moveable hype says ...

Even worse, the DVD automatically starts with the dubbed version and you have to go to the setup to play the original w/ subtitles. The dubbed version gives everyone a cartoony voice that is the exact opposite of what the movie requires. I bet a lot of people see this an think the acting it crappy. A real disservice to the film and to the young actors who are brilliant beyond their years.

That said, even with the less than perfect subs, this is a must see movie. This movie stuck with me for days afterwords.

Posted by moveable hype at March 24, 2009 6:17 AM

comment #5

actionman says ...

the finale in the pool is one of my favorite movie moments of all time

god I love this movie

Posted by actionman at March 24, 2009 6:28 AM

comment #6

ZayTonday says ...

I picked up the Blu-ray version of this release and still have yet to watch it but I saw it in the theatre and this SUCKS.

DO. NOT. WANT.

Posted by ZayTonday at March 24, 2009 6:31 AM

comment #7

Mark says ...

Agree on the english dub; trangressively cartoony.

Posted by Mark at March 24, 2009 7:06 AM

comment #8

Sabina E says ...

I feel really cheated, becuase I never saw this in the cinema (they never released it where I live) so I had to wait for the DVD and I saw it last week and was blown away. but when i found out last night, man, I was pissed off.

Fuck.

Posted by Sabina E at March 24, 2009 7:13 AM

comment #9

kamichojin says ...

Really upset to hear this. I loved this when I saw it theatrically. I picked up the US DVD, but I haven't watched it yet, so this is the first I'm hearing about the problem.

Sucks, but I can't say I'm surprised they dumbed it down for the DVD release. I noticed the same type of nonsense a couple of years ago with various versions of Banlieue 13 (District B-13).

The subbed version I saw at the Phila Film Festival was wildly different from the subbed version that played in general release. All of the French references & humour were dumbed down for easy American consumption. I almost gagged when an apt reference to Fantomas was nonsensically turned into a character being called 'phantom man'.

The saddest part is that the majority of the DVD viewers won't even bother with anything but the atrocious dub track.

Posted by kamichojin at March 24, 2009 7:37 AM

comment #10

Moises Chiullan says ...

Most people buying on DVD/Blu won't dirty themselves with the dub, it's horrible.

This is not an unheard of phenomenon amongst US home video releases. As many stupid uses of BD-Live as exist, I'm surprised no one's taken initiative to support user-downloaded subtitles. There's a handful of spanish language films that I would retranslate myself, in fact.

Posted by Moises Chiullan at March 24, 2009 8:53 AM

comment #11

berkguru says ...

It really is pathetic - I noticed it last week.

Same type of mess with the I've Loved You So Long DVD.

Posted by berkguru at March 24, 2009 8:55 AM

comment #12

Kyle_D says ...

After flipping back and forth on the blu-ray last night, I discovered that the dub uses the original translation, so it's a choice between dumbed down line readings or dumbed down subtitles.

Magnolia should set up some sort of exchange program to replace discs with a properly subtitled version. The majors have launched similar programs in the past. Universal replaced the improperly framed Back to the Future sequels, Disney replaced the improperly framed Pirates of the Caribbean blu-ray, and Sony replaced the first poorly transfered Fifth Element blu-ray.

Posted by Kyle_D at March 24, 2009 8:59 AM

comment #13

actionman says ...

"...Disney replaced the improperly framed Pirates of the Caribbean blu-ray..."

what's improperly framed on this disc?

Posted by actionman at March 24, 2009 9:45 AM

comment #14

Chase Kahn says ...

the DVD disc also defaults in an English dub -- most people won't even know it's supposed to be in Swedish.

The only line that felt horribly butchered to me was when Eli gets in the bed with Oskar, she says, "Is that yucky?" which, theatrically, was, "Is that gross?"...

Posted by Chase Kahn at March 24, 2009 9:50 AM

comment #15

slutsky says ...

I have the Canadian (Mongrel) version. I'll check it tomorrow and let you know which subtitles it has.

Posted by slutsky at March 24, 2009 9:53 AM

comment #16

hunterd says ...

Glad I have a (legit) screener

Posted by hunterd at March 24, 2009 11:12 AM

comment #17

kamichojin says ...

"slutsky says ...
I have the Canadian (Mongrel) version. I'll check it tomorrow and let you know which subtitles it has."

Thanks! I've been trying to find that out on a few different forums to no avail. If it does have the superior subtitles, I'll just get the Mongrel media disc off amazon.ca. I prefer the cover art on that version anyway.

Posted by kamichojin at March 24, 2009 11:21 AM

comment #18

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

One of the bigger disappointments of 2008, very overhyped. Wish I had seen this DVD version, then perhaps I wouldn't be wondering what the fuss was about.

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at March 24, 2009 12:20 PM

comment #19

corey3rd says ...

learn Swedish.

Posted by corey3rd at March 24, 2009 12:28 PM

comment #20

LexG says ...

Saw this a couple nights ago, was hugely disappointed and took me like four tries and seven hours total just to get through it. (I watched the Swedish/subs version, of course.) Just didn't feel ANYTHING for the characters, and particularly thought all the adult characters were boring and unpleasant and lame... that cat attack would've knocked any movie, no matter how good, down to about two stars and no more.

The dub is indeed terrible though. (Tried watching a stretch like that outta curiosity.)

Posted by LexG at March 24, 2009 1:02 PM

comment #21

Kyle_D says ...

"...Disney replaced the improperly framed Pirates of the Caribbean blu-ray..."

"what's improperly framed on this disc?"

The first pressing had the framing set too low on a couple of reels, occasionally cropping out the the actors' heads. It's most notable during the mill sword fight.

Posted by Kyle_D at March 24, 2009 1:40 PM

comment #22

Moises Chiullan says ...

I've weighed in on this over here as an addendum to the Elsewhere Digital review:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/arthouse/2009/03/subtitle-subtleties.php

Posted by Moises Chiullan at March 24, 2009 4:18 PM

comment #23

Dan Revill says ...

I bought the film off amazon.ca, and got the Magnet version....I wasn't even aware there was a choice when I put in my pre-order of the Blu-Ray.

Posted by Dan Revill at March 24, 2009 4:36 PM

comment #24

Griff says ...

One of the more original and awesome films I've seen in a while. I agree, the pool scene was amazing. I liked the film so much I've watched in with both dub and subtitles. While the dub wasn't Oscar calibre by any means, I did find the film engaging enough that I wasn't pulled out it by the dubbing.

Thanks for the earlier recommendation, Jeff!

Posted by Griff at March 24, 2009 5:03 PM

comment #25

MartinBlank says ...

According to The Digital Bits, Magnolia/Magnet has listened and will acquiesce to the fans:

"In other news today, you might recall that we recently reviewed Magnet's Let the Right One In on Blu-ray Disc. Well, it's just come to our attention that the DVD and Blu-ray versions have English subtitles that differ substantially from those of the theatrical art house presentation, in that much of the subtle nuance has been lost and many original lines of dialogue are untranslated entirely. Unfortunately, having only seen the film once in theatres, I wasn't familiar enough with the translation to spot the differences. But Icons of Fright has posted some examples of just how different the subtitles are. We contacted Magnet directly on this issue this afternoon, and they were quick to respond as follows:

"We've been made aware that there are several fans that don't like the version of the subtitles on the DVD/BR. We had an alternate translation that we went with. Obviously a lot of fans thought we should have stuck with the original theatrical version. We are listening to the fans feedback, and going forward we will be manufacturing the discs with the subtitles from the theatrical version."

"We asked Magnet some follow-up questions, specifically how people will be able to identify the new discs, when they'll be available in stores and if there will be an exchange program for those who have the existing version. Here's what they said:

"There are no exchanges. We are going to make an alternate version available however. For those that wish to purchase a version with the theatrical subtitles, it will be called out in the tech specs box at the back/bottom of the package where it will list SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (Theatrical), SPANISH."

"The no exchange thing is going to upset many that have already purchased the disc, and understandably so. We're at least encouraged to see that the title is being corrected. We'll let you know when the discs are available, and rest assured we're letting Magnet know that an exchange program might be a wise idea..."

Posted by MartinBlank at March 25, 2009 5:51 AM

comment #26

ZayTonday says ...

LexG: If your number one reason for not liking LTROI is the cat attack then avoid Boondock Saints at all costs.

Posted by ZayTonday at March 25, 2009 6:35 AM

comment #27

ZayTonday says ...

I say we send our copies of the movie back anyways... it'd be cool if it was an organized thing so they got a truckload of em like how CBS got all the peanuts for Jericho.

Posted by ZayTonday at March 25, 2009 6:37 AM

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So who did the subs for the screener verson I DL last year? Glad I saw it in the theater.

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Jack Sparrow says ...

I feel really cheated, because I never saw this in the cinema so I had to wait for the DVD and I saw it last week and was blown away. but when i found out last night, man, I was pissed off.

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