Two years ago, international film releases in the US reached new heights with Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards. But before ‘Parasite’ or any other non-English movie hits theaters, a fundamental problem needs to be solved. Title.
Distributors say they think a lot about titles, as they can be the first impression a film makes on a prospective audience. How do you translate the original title? Add a word or two to clarify? Or leave Spanish, Korean, or French alone?
The title has been considered since at least the influx of foreign films in the 1950s and 60s. It’s hard to imagine Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’Avventura” being translated simply as “The Adventure”. The cryptic title “The 400 Blows” didn’t stop people from enjoying the richness of the film. (This is a reference to the French idiom “faire les quatre cents coups”, commonly described as “raising hell”.)
The Korean title for “Parasite” is essentially the same word, and a direct translation often makes sense, said Richard Lorber, president of major international film distributor Kino Lorber.
However, the title may change for clarity. The French youth drama Suiren (2008), a romantic story centered on three teenage girls swimming in the same pool, had a completely different French title.
The original name translates as “Birth of the Octopus”. “It’s a tricky title,” Rover said.
“Water Lilies” was suggested as an alternative by film distributors who are experts in selling the rights to distribute films in certain territories such as the United States. The first feature film directed by Céline Sciamma (the latest work “Petit Maman” to be released in spring).
Some translations or modifications may not be necessary. 2020 Brazilian thriller Bacurau is another Kino Lorber release named after the fictional town in which the action takes place.
Also, the English translation may not fully capture the meaning of the more evocative original.Pedro Almodovar his 2006 title “Bolver” (“Coming Back” in Spanish) was not translated for its US release by Sony Pictures Classics, unlike the 1999 drama All About My Mother. (Almodóvar’s name recognition definitely helped profile both films.)
For whatever reason, the distributors agreed that they do not expect non-English titles to be an obstacle for audiences.
Ryan Krivoshay, who runs Grasshopper Films, said, “I think the resistance to foreign titles and films in foreign languages has definitely waned along with the resistance to subtitles. He pointed out the success of “Drive My Car” and the spread of overseas series on Netflix. Grasshopper Film recently distributed “Il Buco” (literally, “The Hole” in Italian) and is about to release a Latin title (“De Humani Corporis Fabrica”).
On a wide range of platforms like Netflix, foreign movies and series vary depending on whether they are translated, left alone, or paraphrased.
Five seasons of blockbuster series “money heist‘ has transformed from its original Spanish, which translates to ‘The House of Paper’, into a dystopian thriller ‘platform‘ was originally ‘El Hoyo’ (‘The Hole’). However, for many foreign titles that Netflix has acquired, the lyrical titles have been left more or less intact. (A Netflix representative declined to comment.)
Carlos Gutierrez of Cinema Tropical, a non-profit organization that specializes in screening Spanish-language films, witnessed a change in title at the turn of the 2000s.
“I think ‘Amores Perros’ opened the door that it would be cool to leave the title in Spanish,” Gutierrez said of future Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) in the 2000 film talked about Shortly thereafter, further doors opened with the release of ‘Y Tu Mama También’ to widespread acclaim.
Gutiérrez also sees potential for growth in the Spanish-speaking film market. Go with the original title.
“I think after the 2000 census, the country realized there was a large group of consuming Latinos that we didn’t take advantage of,” Gutierrez said, adding that the international feature’s share of the box office. noted that the openness to the original-language title continued even though there was a shrinkage.
The journey to many international releases begins at festivals. Distributors may have already decided how to translate and market their titles in anticipation of the first wave of reviews and other coverage.
Last fall, two films directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi left the festival for commercial release in the United States. “Drive My Car” shared its name with Haruki Murakami’s source material (a Beatles song was also used in the title, but the story was transliterated into Japanese). It went on to win an Academy Award for best international feature.However, in his second release in 2021, “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” Mr. Hamaguchi’s I used a rough translation of the original Japanese title as “Coincidence and Imagination”.
The film was already receiving praise and critical acclaim, even with the long-running game show echoes in the title.
Maxwell Wolkin of Film Movement, the film’s distributor, said: The expanded title remained.
The right to change the title may not be contractually granted to the distributor when the film is acquired or may require approval by the director or producer. But the distributor gave an example of the delicate calculations to connect the film with a potential audience. For example, it changed the recent Norwegian oil rig thriller “North Sea” to the more vivid “Burning Sea” and kept the Spanish title for the 2019 family drama “Temblores”. This is to avoid references to the 1980s horror film about underground worms (“Tremors”).
Occasionally, the film openly adopts established titles but turns its appeal to entirely new uses. Bi Gan’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (2019) is a mind-expanding riff on film noir featuring his hour-long sequence shot in one take and rendered in 3D.
Despite its name, it is not an adaptation of a Eugene O’Neill play. Adding to the mystique, the film’s Mandarin title echoes the title of Roberto Bolaño’s story.
“Everyone seems to have scratched their heads,” Roeber said of O’Neill’s mention. , the film stood out on its own.”