Comments on: Magnolia Bites Back at Uproar Surrounding Let The Right One In DVD Subtitles

By: paulm

paulm — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:59:03 +0000

Will there be anything on the packaging to differentiate between the altered subtitles and the original? I really like the original (theatrical) ones, and would rather buy that version.

By: TheAllKnowingGod

TheAllKnowingGod — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:15:04 +0000

The new subtitles sound more like dubtitles than subtitles, ie transcipts of the English dub.

By: James Flanagan

James Flanagan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:33:35 +0000

Just so you know: Saw the film twice in theatres; absolutely loved it. Especially the “Sweet Dre(ams)” morse code bit and the small bit of Shakespearean Quotation from Romeo and Juliet. “I must be gone and live or stay and die.”

The alternative translations may be more literal, but they don’t hold the weight of the originals.

There’s a reason there are multiple english translations of authors like Chekhov and such: it isn’t about literal translation; it’s about conveying meaning.

The new subtitles have lost the meaning.

For the record: I noticed the change without ever reading a damn blog.

By: TheAllKnowingGod

TheAllKnowingGod — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:12:07 +0000

The sweet dreams scene was one of the best scenes in the film and they’ve completely screwed it up.

By: ynick

ynick — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:55:13 +0000

Example: “S.W.E.E.T.D.R.E” translated into “OOOHH……AHHHH”.

Not altering the context of the film? A literal translation??

If that is not the definition of defective I don’t know what is.

By: Glendon

Glendon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:52:35 +0000

You see a movie in the theatres with specific dialogue. You buy the DVD expecting that dialogue. They fucked up. End of story.

By: Antor

Antor — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:15:58 +0000

Oh, and as for the article, I am Swedish and what “goon” and “jackdaniels” said in their comments is correct. The “new” Magnolia Subtitles are not at all closer to the spoken Swedish. On top of that, much of the intent and the very subtle humour behind the spoken word is gone because they have shortened so many of the conversations.

There are some literal translations, but that does not mean it is closer (translating things literally rarely makes sense). But mostly, they are shortened by insane degrees or just plain wrong. The subtitles to the scene with the drunkards at the restaurant just makes me laugh.

By: Antor

Antor — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:06:33 +0000

That was not your argument, your argument was that the Swedish version had “plentiful” extras.

It doesn’t, it actually has *less*.

By: swarez

swarez — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:40:59 +0000

The number of “extras” on the US disc might be higher but they are a sad excuse for additional material. A very short and very thin “making of” which tells you nothing and nowhere on the disc do they talk about the book for instance or talk to its author. Since the director speaks very good english I don’t understand why they couldn’t get him to do a commentary.
The deleted scenes ad nothing as well and I’m pretty sure there was more cut out than those 4 scenes and then a gallery for the posters.
For a film that got so much media attention and fan reaction this release is pretty pathetic.

By: Antor

Antor — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:22:52 +0000

Swarez: The US release has more extras than the Swedish release in the form of a mini-documentary and four cut scenes. The Swedish release has one extra that’s not on the US release, and that’s a single commentaries track.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:48:36 +0000

(We all know that the main actress had her dialogue dubbed in anyway, don’t we?)

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:48:00 +0000

With the significant size increases in modern TVs, and the raise in resolution with BluRay, I find this to be a pretty silly decision. “Let’s truncate the dialogue further due to small screen size?”

Ah Well.