FILM TRAILERS : What I want to know is, does this marketing strategy actually work? I'mnot talking about cases of blatant deceit like "Rosie," but the morecommon sort, which treats us to footage of rolling hills and couplesgazing at each other in meaningful silence while an American narratorinforms us that Janet Maslin found the film "Delightfully Romantic!" Imean, who in hell do they think they're fooling?Granted that there are some stupid people out there. (I remember thedismay of the three fratboys sitting behind me when "Fast, Cheap, andOut of Control" turned out to be a documentary about mole rats andtopiary.) So maybe the theatres lure in a half-dozen folks who haven'tyet found out that there are languages besides English. But does thismake up for the people who stay away, but might have been enticed by amore interesting trailer? I'd have had no interest at all in "TheDreamlife of Angels" if I hadn't known about the film from outsidesources; all I could figure out from the trailer was that it was abouta couple of French women in their twenties. Oops, guess I wasn'tsupposed to figure out the French part. FILM TRAILERS : Maybe, now that I think it over, I'm missing the point of these ads.Maybe the idea isn't to fool people so much as distract them -- givethem a bit of dialogue in German and they'll stop thinking about thatnubile thing up on the screen and start thinking about how sore theireyes get after reading all those subtitles. The studios probablyenvision a target audience that goes to the occasional foreign film,but doesn't want to be reminded too vigorously about how foreign theyare. But I'm still not convinced that they've hit on the bestmarketing plan.Some subtitled dialogue was included in the CABARET BALKAN (nee THEPOWDER PEG) trailer. While not touching the freshness of the CHACUNCHERCHE SON CHAT/WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY trailer, it's still one of thebetter art house trailers I've seen.Granted, most foreign movies aren't really conducive to a nice silentmontage of cool shots, but the way most arthouse distributors marketthese films is downright nauseating. Obviously, they're trying to foolsomebody; the problem is, they forget foreign film trailers areattached to *foreign* films. Maybe they're thinking that Americanshave a foreign film quota like you suggest, but I doubt the couple inBeverly Hills watching LES AMANTS DU PONT NEUF will avoid AFTER LIFEsimply because it has subtitles. FILM TRAILERS : The most bizarre trailers are the ones that give away the nationalorigin of the film but still proceeds to avoid any subtitles. I'mthinking of something like THE DINNER GAME trailer, which made it looklike a French remake of a "The Three Stooges" episode. What's all thatstuff about Gallic wit? (Does anybody remember if RIDICULE's trailercontained any subtitles?)Worst I ever saw was PONETTE....it just looked horrible, but it quoted people like Janet Maslin, etc, saying it was a fantastic film...I actually wondered if all the critics had gone insane. I never did see it, and nothing can make me see it now.Perhaps if you ever saw the movie you'd understand. But please, continue tobash something you haven't seen.But I understand his point. I remember seeing the trailer for Kieslowski'sRED at the Lincoln Plaza, a month or so before the movie was released.GOD, I shouted to myself, THIS LOOKS BLOODY INTOLERABLE. Fortunately, Iknew enough to look forward to it anyway, but if I wasn't a well-informedfilmgoer, that trailer would have turned me right off. FILM TRAILERS : I think the real effect of your average foreign film trailer is toreinforce the general impression that the public has -- they're slow,they're stately, they're critically acclaimed. Fortunately, the trailersare mostly shown in front of other "art" movies, which minimizes thedamage.Anyone with a taste for good cinema who's seen the Kieslowski trilogy atmy place has enjoyed, if not adored, it. But the Miramax trailers wouldhave sent these people retching from the theater. DEEP FOCUS (Movie Reviews) "What's my name, BITCH?" Say, look at the header...what's that say? Foreign film *trailers*? Oh yeah. Which I did see in the case of Ponette. And which I hated. It was very, very badly done. Doesn't inspire much faith in the filmmakers if they can't put a decent trailer together. I saw nothing which interested me in the least. FILM TRAILERS : But please, continue to bash a post you didn't bother to read in context.I think MC4 was objecting to the "nothing can make me see [Ponette} now"part. Trailers for foreign films may be dreadful these days, but thatshouldn't stop you from seeking out reviews or other information todecide whether or not to see the movie. "Ponette" is a lovely movie andyou'd be hard-pressed to find a better performance from a child actorthan Victoire Thivisol's. Since the filmmaker in France had absolutely *nothing* to do withthe American trailer, inspiring your faith is somewhat besides thepoint. If you're so out of it that you'd be swayed by the work ofthe hacks at the trailer companies hired by the incredibly stupidforeign film distributors (and I'm biting the hand that feeds me,since I do a lot of work indirectly for those trailer companies),you'd probably dislike the film under any circumstances.
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