Earlier this year, Parasite became the first non-English language film to win the Best Picture Oscar.
This was a landmark moment for the Academy Awards and for mainstream American cinema in general. It was significant enough in cultural terms to merit a racist dog-whistle from the President of the United States. It also suggested that it was possible for foreign films to make over the “one inch barrier of subtitles.” The film’s box office returns were impressive, and its cultural footprint quite sizable. Parasite seemed to make its own strong argument for the viability of foreign-language films in the English-language market place.
Passing each other on the down-slope of a marriage…
Downhill makes a similar argument, albeit in much less compelling terms. The indie cringe comedy is an adaptation of Ruben Östlund’s breakout foreign language sensation Force Majeure, premised on the idea that there are audience members who might be drawn to the basic premise of the original film, but alienated by the subtitles. Indeed, Östlund himself seems to have acknowledged this, moving on to more English-language-friendly pastures with The Square, a film with a lot of dialogue in English and starring actors like Dominic West and Elizabeth Moss.
Downhill makes its own argument for the necessity of Force Majeure, by demonstrating just how much can get lost in translation.
Cold reception.
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: downhill, film, force majeure, Movie, non-review review, review, translation, will ferrell | Leave a comment »
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