KoH Japanese subtitle problem!
Kingdom of Heaven opened here in Japan on 14th May, and I have seen it four times already! It is a really great film, it totally sucked me in, giving me a serene impression every time I see it. But the Japanese movie critics seem to have other opinions - I am quite sure that most of their negative reactions are caused by the shockingly poor Japanese subtitle! *grinds teeth*
I'll leave the rest of my lengthy grumble-ramble under cut, but please take a look if you have time. I want the US movie studios/distributors know about the true state of a woman who is called the "Grand dame of film translation" in Japan, and this would be my first step.
Now first things first. We Japanese do not understand English well enough to see a movie without subtitles. Well, most of us don't. Therefore, when a foreign movie opens, it always has a Japanese subtitle on screen and we read all the lines along to understand what's going on in the movie. So what do you think will happen if that subtitle is shamefully rotten in quality?
Disaster.
I have read some reviews on KoH saying things like "difficult to empathize with characters", "elusive and complicated story" or "Orlando Bloom's performance weak; not hero-like". WTF?!
I thought the film was awesome. The script was truly great. Orlando actually lived as Balian on screen. He WAS Balian, the reluctant hero. Other actors were also great too. I couldn't believe we were talking about the same film - which we were not.
Lurking around on the internet, I found so many movie fan communities complaining on how the Japanese subtitle was weird and incomprehensible, which made it so difficult for them to understand the story. Then it struck me. Those critic's KoH impression were based on the Japanese subtitle! Being a critic doesn't mean you can understand English, you know.
So there I went to the theatre again, this time a pen and a memo pad in my hand. I wanted to check and verify with my own eyes and ears of what exactly the subtitle is like, because I usually don't pay much attention to it. In less than three minutes from opening, I got my answer. God-awful.
Incorrect translation. Omission of translation. Too much paraphrasing. Odd turn of speech. Expressions that does not suit the character. Japanese which does not make sense.
All in all, I can safely state that if that subtitle is your only guide through the movie, you are lost. You absolutely need to fill the gap by listening to the actual dialog, but as I mentioned above, most of the audience in Japan are not able to do so. Also, the Crusaders are not really familiar in Japan which makes the subtitle important even more.
When I read the reviews, I had this odd feeling that something was wrong because KoH is a type of movie which Japanese critics usually love; a humble hero fighting bravely for peace to protect the people, a huge battle scene, NO expedient triumphs (there's a saying "Find victory in defeat" in Japan), and a quiet but long-lasting impression. Japanese are not really tied to religion so the Christians vs. Muslims composition does no harm here. Additionally, we do not expect a hero to be all bulky and macho unnecessarily. Then why the negative reviews? Now I think I know the reason.
To tell the truth, I had a bad feeling from the start when I heard who is going to translate KoH. She is said to be the leading expert, The Subtitler of the Japanese film industry. But as far as I know, she is The Destroyer of great films. And it's not just me.
A magazine called Shukan Shincho bestowed her as "Queen of Mistranslation". Fans of the movie "Phantom of the Opera" (unfortunately subtitled by our Destroyer Queen) are sending appeals and pleas to the film distributor to at least improve the Japanese subtitle when it comes out on DVD. A desperate plea of same kind was sent to Nippon Herald, distributor of "LotR" series in Japan, as the Ringers were furious about the damage she had done to their beloved epic. To their much relief, Herald heeded to their complaints and the subtitle was newly done by a different subtitler for DVDs. Horrifyingly, these examples are merely a tip of the iceberg.
In case you want to do your own research, her name is Natsuko Toda.
For your convenience, here're some reference pages:
The One Ring net
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1015204853
Hall of Sha...no, Fame?
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-SanJose/9606/natsukotoda.htm
A letter to New Line from Ringers
http://miyako.cool.ne.jp/cgi-bin/treebbs/treebbs.cgi?log=1834
Natsuko Toda under fire
http://www.jref.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1425.html
Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fd20050515tc.htm
Now the question is: Why does she not get kicked out of the industry?
It's been one of the biggest mysteries to all the movie fans in Japan. Does she do it at a lower price than others? Does she hold some movie-studio-executives' balls? Well maybe both, but I think it is a collusive relation based on negligence.
I am sure that the distributors in Japan are aware of her bad reputation. Movie-lovers have sent dozens of plea letters, have made dozens of complaint calls. But I guess movie companies do not want to take responsibility when something goes wrong, and has chosen to pretend ignorance. They want to stay in this lukewarm situation, to have the handy excuse "We've hired the most famous subtitler, haven't we?" when someone blames them for misinterpretation.
Don't they have any pride? Seems not. Don't they care about the quality of their services? Seems not either. But I am quite sure that they do care about money. And for more, I am certainly sure that movie studios/distributors in US does care about how much profit they make in the Japanese market.
My guess is, US headquarters/Parent companies are not fully aware of what their Japanese branches/Affiliates are doing behind their back. Subtitles are written in Japanese, for god sake! How can they actually know that that is screwing up their movie? I think the choice of subtitlers are left to each local offices. If the Japanese distributor doesn't report any unfavorable information, US offices are not able to know such things.
What I am trying to do here is to let US offices know what exactly they are losing because of the wretched subtitle. THEY ARE LOSING MONEY. Negative reviews based on poor subtitles are leading to less audiences in movie theatres.
All I am asking for is a proper, good-quality subtitle.
I understand people have various opinions and I do respect that, but those judgments should be done fairly. I really hate to see some arrogant Queen of Mistranslation do any kind of harm to Orlando's beautiful work(s) which he has worked so hard to accomplish. He deserves much much better than that.
I think a "signature-collecting campaign" would be conducted by Orlando fans at some point but I kind of doubt it if the Japanese distributors (in this case, 20th Fox Japan) will take the matter seriously, because some of my friends have already called them up several times but no sincere answer was given. What can we Japanese fan girls do then? All I could come up with was try to draw US offices' attention by talking about money, and hopefully make them put some external pressure on to the Japanese distributors to hire a better subtitler. There are many subtitlers who are more talented and more dedicated to their work.
............Phew, sorry for the loooonng rant but I had to say it.
I feel a bit better now but still am quite annoyed and frustrated; I want to do something to get a better subtitle for KoH (at least for its DVD!) and for other Orlando-films coming out in the future.