I’m crazy about the movies, always have been/always will be. One thing I’ll say for movie theaters in Mexico (or at least where I live in Mexico) is that they’re totally great. Stadium seating, comfy chairs, nice and clean, and best of all, they’re super cheap. Even if I don’t go on “half-price day,” tickets are only about 4 bucks per person. Last time I went to the movies, I saw the marginally wretched Antes de Partir (The Bucket List), which blew, but I was thrilled with an innovative new concessions contraption I’d never before seen: a hard plastic tray that fits into the cup holder on your seat, so you have a little TV tray. Worth the price of admission alone. Maybe those trays have been around for awhile in the rest of the world, but remember, I’ve lived here for almost 4 years.
There are only a handful of things that aren’t great about movies in Mexico and they’re fairly minor. First, the theaters are freezing and they always have the sound up way, way too loud. Second, an awful lot of people bring their young kids and babies to the theater, even when the movie is one a child shouldn’t be seeing for another 10-13 years, so at times there is some annoying crying/screaming (one thing I’ve noticed, however is that Mexican kids don’t seem to be as big of whiners as American kids are. For real.). The only other thing that’s a bit challenging about movies here is simply trying to figure out what’s playing based on the movie’s title, and not just because Spanish isn’t my first language.
At first, it was easy, since I had been in the US and had watched all the trailers and ads for upcoming movies, so I knew sort of what to expect for a few months. Now, however, I’ve been here so long that I’m blindly choosing movies I’ve never heard of; if I have somehow heard of the movie, extracting the English title from the Spanish title isn’t always as easy as you’d think it would be. Often, they seem to add what seem to be “unnecessary” words or explanations into the titles. Sometimes the titles bear no relevance whatsoever to the original.
Once, an acquaintance named Oscar was complaining about how “they” choose to retitle movies. “Por ejemplo,” he said, “They called that movie with Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon A Surprise Ending…. What in the hell was wrong with Thelma y Louise??!”
While I’ve always liked watching The Academy Awards (mostly to ridicule what people are wearing), my new ritual is making a list of the movies I have missed that I think I would like to see, then scouring the internet to find out what the Spanish titles are, then obsessively watching for them at the movie theater or Blockbuster. That’s right, folks. Even leisure is work here.
Here is this year’s list of movies I’m hoping desperately to see. Wherever possible, I’ve included the Spanish title and/or movie poster. I’ve also translated them where not completely obvious, literally and roughly, without a dictionary, so feel free to correct me with a better translation.
Petróleo Sangriento (Bleeding Oil)
Adiós Pequeña Adiós (Goodbye Small Female Goodbye) This one made me laugh. I know “pequeña” is probably a term of endearment, but the literal translation is amusing.
Sweeney Todd: El Barbero Demoníaco de la Calle Fleet
Expiación, Deseo, y Pecado (Expiation, Desire, and Sin) A perfect example of adding unnecessary extra words to the original title.
La Vida en Rosa
Elizabeth: La Edad de Oro (Elizabeth: The Age of Gold) Pretty straightforward here; I was surprised, however, that her name wasn’t changed to Isabel like it usually is in Spanish subtitles.
Juno: Crecer, Correr, Tropezar (Juno: To Grow, To Run, To Encounter) Another one that cracked me up. WTF is wrong with just Juno?
Lars and the Real Girl I didn’t find this translated anywhere on the ‘net. I tried looking for it with my own version of what I thought it would be called, but no dice. I think this means I probably won’t be able to find this one here.
Now this one is really interesting because in my neck of Mexico, it’s called Sin Lugar Para Los Débiles (No place for the weak), but the poster says No Es Pais Para Viejos, which makes more sense to me (No Country for Old Men).
El Asesinato de Jesse James Por El Cobarde Robert Ford I think the Mexican word for “coward” kicks the English word’s cowardly ass. Cobarde is one of my favorite words in Spanish.
La Familia Savages
Ok, who wants to go to el cine conmigo? I’ll buy the palomitas.
[...] heatherinparadise put an intriguing blog post on Letâs all go to the movies! ¡Todos vayamos a las pelÃculas!Here’s a quick excerptI’m crazy about the movies, always have been/always will be. One thing I’ll say for movie theaters in Mexico (or at least where I live in Mexico) is that they’re totally great. Stadium seating, comfy chairs, nice and clean, … [...]
By: TV Movies Soaps » Let’s all go to the movies! ¡Todos vayamos a las películas! on February 25, 2008
at 10:12 pm
“Ok, who wants to go to el cine conmigo? I’ll buy the palomitas”
I DO! I DO!! This is the first year that I haven’t seen any of the nominees.
There Will Be Blood is a screen adaptation from the book ‘Oil’. Interesting that the Spanish version of it is ‘Bleeding Oil’.
By: Vanessa on February 25, 2008
at 11:07 pm
Ok, we’ll go to the movies next time you’re in town. And I’m just realizing that I think I mis-translated “sangriento…” I think it should be “Bloody Oil.” Oops.
By: heatherinparadise on February 25, 2008
at 11:11 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI’m crazy about the movies, always have been/always will be. One thing I’ll say for movie theaters in Mexico (or at least where I live in Mexico) is that they’re totally great. Stadium seating, comfy chairs, nice and clean, … [...]
By: Movies » Let’s all go to the movies! ¡Todos vayamos a las películas! on February 25, 2008
at 11:26 pm
I’ll go but only when the theatre is empty. Everyone fricking talks and it drives me INSANE!
By: Elizabeth on February 26, 2008
at 10:42 am
I’d go to the movie with you anytime. But we couldn’t really have popcorn. (Carbs and all, you know.)
I’m always really amazed how empty the theaters are on discount Wednesdays. There’s usually us and 2 or 3 other couples (I’ve never had kids in there with us, oddly enough). We just usually forget it’s there, but it’s a great cheap date (even with popcorn and those cool snack trays).
By: Susie Q Roo on February 26, 2008
at 5:15 pm
I saw just two from your list…Juno(cute) and sweeney Todd(loved it)
add Charlie Wilsons War to your list
Wish I could movie with you!!!
By: Amy on February 27, 2008
at 8:51 pm
FINALLY, someone who also didn’t think that Bucket List was the best thing ever! I thought it was “ok” and it really only gets that rating because the cast was so good.
We went to Cancun to drop the MIL off at the airport today so we cruised to the mall there (the one we could find…). I asked hubby if he wanted to see a movie while we were there, too bad they just had a marquee where we could see. I need posters, people, posters. Like you said… the titles… oi vey!
By: Mexpat on March 2, 2008
at 7:45 pm
So how about some loose suggestions for Lost in translation ?
Confundido en Tokio – that might be brain-numbingly descriptive enough.
Or even ‘Ciudad del amor perdido’ ?
Or less direct, maybe: ‘Lágrimas en mí whiskey’…?
Respuestas en un postal, por favor.
By: Roads on March 3, 2008
at 2:24 pm
You might enjoy seeing iron man when it gets there. here is my take on it:
In the movie Ironman, the opening shot is of a tumbler filled with ice and scotch in the hands of Tony Stark – the CEO of Stark Industries and hedonistic arms merchant who, drunk on his success and debauched life style, almost dies as a result of his risk taking behavior. He “hits bottom” when he is captured by terrorists (using weapons produced and sold by none other than Stark Industries – talk about self destructive behavior), is imprisoned in a cave and, pretending to be doing the terrorist’s bidding, instead builds a suit of armor to protect him from attack during his hoped for escape attempt. It takes him 3 months to build his new self – one day at a time. In the suit he has a Higher Power – his Higher Power – and transformed, he emerges from the darkness, liberates himself from his cave prison and walks into the light. The last line of the movie is “I am Iron Man” – it could have been – “Hi, my name is Ironman and I am an alcoholic.”
By: steven germain on May 4, 2008
at 10:59 am