Howl's Castle translates well

The English version of Howl's Moving Castle is better than the Japanese. It makes more sense somehow. Perhaps certain sayings or phrases, which translated into subtitles, were phrased differently when spoken by English speaking actors. Whatever it was, the film is great in English. At first, I thought that it was too bad that it was dubbed, but as someone said recently to me, cartoons are dubbed in the first place. True, and in this case, the second dub is better. Billy Crystal makes for an excellent fire demon!

Hawaii, Oslo

This film was fantastic. It redeemed my whole day, for I had been tortured earlier by "Bride of Silence," (see earlier entry). It's a Norwegian film with a complicated story line, actually several stories, which all come together at the end. It was funny, sad, action packed, with even a few love stories woven in. Here's SIFF's description, and well said:

"This Scandinavian blend of Altman’s SHORT CUTS and Paul Thomas Anderson’s MAGNOLIA tracks several strangers heating up and breaking down during Norway’s hottest day of the year. In a gorgeous-looking Oslo, two lovers hope to reunite in Hawaii (an Oslo bar), while a convict dreams of Hawaii (the paradise)."

Bride of Silence

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. But it nonetheless wins an award - as the first film at SIFF that I couldn't stand. "Bride of Silence" is a great description of the film, for the main character is indeed silent. Not only does she speak little, and quiet as a mouse at that, but the actress' performance is silent as well. Actually, every character in the film is emotionally silent, vacant stares abound. Here's a good example: (And this is a 'spoiler' if you are going to see the film)

In a scene where the young woman has been denounced by her village, is about to have her head shaven, her newborn taken from her and sent down the river in a basket, has been totally stripped of status and family and is basically facing the absolute worst moment in her life, and she just stares off into a void with no expression whatsoever. "Oh well, whatever," seems to be how everyone in the film acts, for she is not alone with the vacant stare routine. It's as if an entire Vietnam village has been taken over by idiot zombies. Now that would have made the film interesting, if half way through we get a "Dusk till Dawn" kind of thing. But no such luck. Unless you speak Vietnamese, and really miss hearing the language in a film onscreen, you could do a lot better with your time than seeing "Bride of Silence." And it's too bad, because I really wanted to like this film.