china dispatch #13 - movies
We've mentioned our comical DVD adventures before. You get a beautiful DVD with a gorgeous picture and sound, and menus intact, and then every ten minutes the phrase "FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION" appears onscreen. More often, though, you get television series with partial episodes, or Chinese subtitles that you can't turn off, or wacky English subtitles when you do turn them on.
Naturally, you can find out a lot about a movie from looking at the back of the cover. For instance, if you see an intriguing title or a familiar star but you're not sure whether to watch the DVD, you might turn it over and read this:
Absolutely true. Of course, the movie in question, the newest Indiana Jones flick, was available on DVD in Beijing the weekend it came out in theaters. Those are the most entertaining ones to get.
Why? Well, in this one, the picture was neither full-screen nor true letterbox but instead a subtle trapezoid caused by the fact that the person filming it in the theater was over to the side. There were indeed subtitles but the translator was either incompetent or computerized. And throughout the movie, shadows appeared across the bottom as people came and went and shuffled across their aisles. Further, I suppose in an effort to get packed up before getting busted, the cutesy denouement is unfinished. They're in the wedding chapel, the door opens, and ... what happens? WHAT HAPPENS?
I'll never know. At least, not until another version of the movie appears — for my consideration.
Naturally, you can find out a lot about a movie from looking at the back of the cover. For instance, if you see an intriguing title or a familiar star but you're not sure whether to watch the DVD, you might turn it over and read this:
Story background hypothesis in 1957 cold
war time. This time Dr. Jones and old love
Mary raised · the auspicious article Wood
'
s son already to grow up. Kate · Buland Chet a
cts cold blood Soviet Union military officer, to fi
nd in the fable the alien to keep on the Earth "th
e crystal skull" , raised unexpectedly take Mary a
s the hostage intimidates Dr. Jones. But, Dr. Jone
s and the son have stepped travel of together
the treasure hunt.
Absolutely true. Of course, the movie in question, the newest Indiana Jones flick, was available on DVD in Beijing the weekend it came out in theaters. Those are the most entertaining ones to get.
Why? Well, in this one, the picture was neither full-screen nor true letterbox but instead a subtle trapezoid caused by the fact that the person filming it in the theater was over to the side. There were indeed subtitles but the translator was either incompetent or computerized. And throughout the movie, shadows appeared across the bottom as people came and went and shuffled across their aisles. Further, I suppose in an effort to get packed up before getting busted, the cutesy denouement is unfinished. They're in the wedding chapel, the door opens, and ... what happens? WHAT HAPPENS?
I'll never know. At least, not until another version of the movie appears — for my consideration.
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