Snap, Crackle, Pudas!
One of the more unfortunate recent trends I've noticed is the decline in attendance at foreign-language films. Art house patrons used to line up around the block like rabid Star Wars\ fans to see the latest offering from Francois Truffaut or Akira Kurosawa, but nowadays many cineastes have decided to settle for DVD. Few recent foreign films have been met with infectious acclaim—""City of God"" and ""Amélie"" easily leading that small pack—and the five nominated for Oscars every year are rarely anything special.
In fact, this year's winner for Best Foreign Film, ""Tsotsi,"" has been doing mediocre business at the Westgate Art Cinema, where I work. Thus, what the Academy deems the best foreign-language movie of the year has been greeted with little more than apathy. Since I haven't seen it yet, I can do little more than speculate, but from what I've observed it hasn't stimulated word-of-mouth praise or any particularly passionate reactions. In other words, it's no ""Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"" or ""Life is Beautiful,"" even though this year yielded a number of absolutely phenomenal foreign films.
One of my favorite movies this year was ""Head-On,"" a German film about the tumultuous relationship between two troubled Turks in a marriage of convenience. I loved ""The Best of Youth,"" a glorious, six-hour-long epic centering on the diverging lives of two dissimilar Italian brothers, even more. But neither of these fantastic, critically acclaimed films were nominated for an Oscar, while safer, less controversial films like France's ""Joyeux Noël"" and Italy's rather unpopular ""Don't Tell"" ended up on the ballot instead.
The real victors reveal themselves on DVD, thanks especially to the significant interest of the college market and rental-by-mail services such as Netflix. I'd say in addition to ""City of God"" and ""Amélie,"" ""Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"" and ""Run Lola Run"" are probably the most popular contemporary foreign-language films, and only two of them were even nominated for Oscars. Unless it's directed by Pedro Almodovar (""Talk to Her,"" ""Bad Education"") or Zhang Yimou (""Hero,"" ""House of Flying Daggers""), a foreign film's theatrical success is completely unpredictable and, considering the importance of DVD, damn near irrelevant.
I have a feeling that this is due to U.S. audiences' continuing aversion to subtitles. One of DVD's most useful features is the option to take the subtitles off and watch a foreign film dubbed into English, which caters to anybody who ever grumbled about having to ""read a movie."" I'll admit my bias here: I don't think subtitles are an inconvenience in the slightest.
Watching a dubbed movie sure as hell is annoying, though, and I can't understand why anyone would prefer a version where the words don't match the actors' lips. For me, that's only tolerable when it's a cheesy kung fu movie, something with Jackie Chan such as ""Rumble in the Bronx"" or ""Supercop"" where it's part of the corny charm. But I can't even imagine trying to watch a visceral, heartbreaking film like ""Downfall,"" 2004's brutal war biopic of Hitler during his final days, with English voiceovers.
Although I'm happy that DVD has given the United States more exposure to foreign films, I still wish more people would see them at the theater. Just about every movie I've mentioned already, in addition to underrated ones like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's powerful ""Amores Perros,"" Christopher Gans' thrilling ""The Brotherhood of the Wolf"" and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's exhilarating war romance ""A Very Long Engagement,"" are exciting films that would be best experienced on the big screen.
I also wish art-house theaters would re-release renowned epics like Kurosawa's ""Ran"" when there are few good arty movies around (especially our current post-Oscar season). This could possibly get people to broaden their tastes and view a classic foreign film in the kind of venue it deserves.
I would encourage those of you with any interest in foreign films to see as many of them as you can in the theater. It is ironic that exhibition of foreign films is waning in this era of rampant globalization, and even though DVD has given us convenient access to a wider array of foreign films, nothing short of a massive plasma screen TV and accompanying surround sound will match what a darkened auditorium has to offer. However you choose to watch a foreign-language movie, please don't let subtitles scare you off.
Want Pudas to get you free popcorn at Westgate Theatre? Well, he can't, and even if he could he wouldn't. I mean, look at you. E-mail him at japudas@wisc.edu.\
