Subtitles

Something that I may never get used to on the first try is subtitles.

A little bit ago I watched Ringu at the Pioneer Place on 5th.  The screen was a tidbit too far away for me to get a good quality 'look' at it, but the sound supported what needed to be heard:

Japanese.

So, to my joy, I had to get used to reading subtitles while watching for interesting phenomena during the show.  If I had a choice to do it again with a little more preparation, I would have watched a different subtitled film beforehand to learn to listen to rather than read the screen.  So it was after a few major moments in the film that I began to really home in on what was important.

I couldn't get past recollecting the American film 'The Ring' the entire time and was making comparisons as I went, but over all each film holds the plot up very well.  I couldn't choose between the two if I was forced.  I would probably side on Ringu's side if I knew a lick of Japanese, but alas, I don't.  That will be next summer.  Right...

Moving on.

So what piqued my interest in this film?  Aside from differences in the plot due to differences in direction and cultural differences (this wasn't quite a mainstream Hollywood type film) there were sonic differences that were popping up all over the place and throughout.  The soundtrack was the most noticeable.  During the driving scenes I kept wanting to hear the edgy strings being nervously bowed while the driver knew she was going to die if she didn't figure out the mystery.  But instead, there was something else.  The comparison is hard to avoid at the moment.

There were also a few points where the sound of 'the death' or 'the 'remembrance of death' (i.e. the closet scene) where the sound didn't react as I thought it would.  Instead of being a quick shot of the deceased it was a somewhat drawn out moment where the sound was drawn out with the visuals in synch (and somewhat held after the fact).  This was much more eerie if I could be subjective about it.  Not only was there the initial shock, but also this sense of heaviness to the situation.  It wasn't as gimmicky as "The Ring" since it wasn't just this gunshot to the chest of an unfortunate event.  It was sitting there in front of you for a few seconds.

Frightening.