Child voiceover

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Does anyone else occasionally find child voiceover narration jarring or, for lack of a better word, ‘annoying’? I’m taking in cinematic terms purely, as I have no issues with children outside the medium. Was watching The Tale, which I’ve seen a few times become, and for the first time found myself resenting
WARNING: spoilers below
little Jenny’s speech. I do acknowledge it served a purpose in the film, with it being reiterated that she ‘never speaks’ and ‘isn’t very good at reading’, by her own admission
. I’ve definitely also caught myself thinking that while watching something else. Another film where that was the case was Babadook, but there it’s so deliberate it doesn’t warrant discussion. I almost wonder whether it’s a conscious decision not to hire child actors with perfect diction now. If so, why not? Just throwing it out there.



Can’t think of anything I’ve seen with a child’s narration.
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@Stirchley, the above doesn’t constitute a spoiler, so do watch The Tale if it comes your way.
When you mentioned this movie earlier this week I commented I’d never heard of it, but that it was now in my Netflix Q. Just checked my Q & found that I had not saved it. I’m losing my mind slowly, but am now certain it’s in my Q.



Must be me, then. It’s the diction that kills me, half the words are impossible to understand.
Which is why I won’t watch anything without subtitles. Americans particularly mumble on-screen.



Which is why I won’t watch anything without subtitles. Americans particularly mumble on-screen.
Wise you are. I have a bizarre reluctance to watch English-language films with subtitles, but might have to rethink that. I do remember struggling with Jani’s South African accent in Croupier quite a bit, but might have been the sound.



Wise you are. I have a bizarre reluctance to watch English-language films with subtitles, but might have to rethink that. I do remember struggling with Jani’s South African accent in Croupier quite a bit, but might have been the sound.
I had been struggling with The Wire some years ago by not being able to follow plot lines since I was unsure what was being said. Suddenly dawned on me to turn on subtitles. Boy, I sure had missed a lot. Subtitles for everything ever since.

Maybe apocryphal, but I once read that Americans dislike subtitles since they don’t want to read when watching a movie.



I had been struggling with The Wire some years ago by not being able to follow plot lines since I was unsure what was being said. Suddenly dawned on me to turn on subtitles. Boy, I sure had missed a lot. Subtitles for everything ever since.

Maybe apocryphal, but I once read that Americans dislike subtitles since they don’t want to read when watching a movie.
I thought The Wire was fine re: pronunciation, oddly enough. But may need to revisit, following your comments.

... Suddenly dawned on me to turn on subtitles.
Not directly relevant to the thread, but I tried doing this and I think it’s genius. I’ve watched a few Japanese horror films tonight with no sound on at all as someone is asleep next to me and it’s a new laptop so I haven’t sorted the headphones, and it’s a pretty surreal experience. I like it, especially entertaining as it’s extremely quiet and I can hear my own breathing, the cats and people outside and even my neighbours’ pipes, it seems. Subtitles forever from now on! Gotta find good ones, of course, but Amazon seems fine so far.

P.S. I only used to do it out of necessity before. Parasite in theatres undubbed was a bit odd, but I don’t think the reading really interferes.



Subtitles forever from now on! Gotta find good ones, of course, but Amazon seems fine so far.

P.S. I only used to do it out of necessity before. Parasite in theatres undubbed was a bit odd, but I don’t think the reading really interferes.
Are there good & bad subtitles? If so, I’m unaware of it. I do prefer subs to closed captioning, which gives one too much information, but I don’t care really.

You actually watch dubbed movies?