Ratings for foreign films?
 

Is it just me or do some foreign language films receive higher ratings just because they are in a foreign language?

Dont get me wrong, I enjoyed 'Old Boy', 'Ring' and 'Battle Royale', etc... but would they really of gotten four stars if they were identically recreated in english?

Lets be honest, the acting in these films arent fantastic, the plots aren't that original, although enjoyable and nothing else REALLY stands out apart from the subtitles.

I watched 'Red State' (as an example) the other day and found it quite enjoyable, nothing brilliant, but entertaining, yet it received 3 stars, yet 'Battle Royale', which had a less original plot and worse acting got 4 stars. Please explain.

Hi shiddy, welcome to the Forum. I see you've posted this identical post in the Magazine forum as well. Double posting is not allowed, accordingly the second thread in Magazine forum has been removed.

Agreed. It's like if it's subtitled or in another language, it is closer to art. Nonsense.

my take on it would be that only the decent foreign language films get a release over here, ergo they have higher ratings.

I loved all those film listed above and think they more than deserve their critical praise. With regards to the acting I think it's important to remember the cultural differences and how this affects performances - I bet you could show Asian audiences some of the cream of Western cinema and they'd think "What the hell is this shit?! Are they even trying to act?"

Maybe not, but it's not just the language that makes these kinds of film. It's also the narrative and cinematic techniques they use - quite often, the American cinema we see features a lot of focus on action and explosions whilst, say, Italian cinema (that I've seen) is more focussed on characters and relationships. Sometimes, it hits the right notes. :)

For example, I saw Roma citta' aperta recently, and whilst I didn't enjoy it per se, I could still appreciate the technicalities behind it that made the film distinctly of that country and genre.

I could just be rambling, however...

This - There are probably shed loads of crappy foreign films if you seeked them out. But because we watch the good rep ones that are plonked in front of us, we watch them instead.

Spoton
 

I agree with you 100%.

There are also quite a few foreign films which have received low ratings from TF. Possibly a bad example but I seem to recall "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" getting two stars, as did another non-porny Asian film.

It doesn't happen all the time, it just happens a lot.