Apparently the movie was shot almost entirely in Japanese and released in Japan first, the US release was only two weeks later. So the original language should be Japanese, or?
Can't find a movie or TV show? Login to create it.
Want to rate or add this item to a list?
Not a member?
Reply by lineker
on January 2, 2020 at 10:37 AM
Hi, it depends how you interpret what original movie language is. It's usually thought of as an indicator as to "what country is this movie from?". In this case it is a US production with an English original title so I think the current setting makes sense. Thanks.
Reply by thyron
on January 3, 2020 at 4:06 PM
You got a point with the production country/title, but in my view the original language is the language the movie was shot in (the actors speak Japanese) and originally published (Japanese first).
Reply by lineker
on January 3, 2020 at 4:12 PM
Spoken language is not the same as original movie language (OML). And while first theatrical release can be important in some cases, it would produce some wildly strange results if we based OML on that. And what about movies with 4, 5 or 6 spoken languages with a first theatrical release in yet another country... It would never work.
Reply by thyron
on January 3, 2020 at 4:53 PM
Sure, releases can vary widely, but here the point is that it's shot in Japanese.
I was not aware of the definition of "original movie language" as depending on the country of production. So to be sure: with "current setting" you mean English? Because the current setting is Japanese.
Reply by lineker
on January 3, 2020 at 5:07 PM
I thought I locked it up, but now it has the correct setting.
We can't have rules that won't work for thousands of titles... Any movie with two or more spoken languages would not work at all with your suggestion.
There are two camps for the OML setting. Camp 1. The country that you would add to a statement: This movie is a/an ______ movie. Letters from Iwo Jima is a Japanese movie would be the answer using your suggestion. In my mind it is a US movie produced by US studios and directed by an american director.
Camp 2. Just make it simple. The language of the original title is the OML. This one works most of the time, but there are exceptions. Like clearly German movies with an English title etc.
Note that with both current interpretations, English is the OML in this case.