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Originally Posted by kuze
Have I ever mentioned that you seem to hate everything I love and vice versa?
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I searched through the thread a bit to back up what you're saying. There's something to it, but we both liked District 9, Juno and The Sopranos.
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EDIT: Oh, and In Treatment (HBO) is rather awesome, too - but I admit I haven't seen the original.
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In Treatment is translated from the Hebrew almost word for word, except for taking out references which are clearly Israeli. There are two major differences in quality. First, the American one looks a lot more professional, you know, better directed, better lit, much more impressive sets and props and the like. I think it also had a better soundtrack, though I can't remember. (I do know that they kept the Israeli theme music, though shortened.) As far as production values go it makes the original look downright amateurish. But the acting is where the new show doesn't hold up compared to the original, and since the entire show is just a bunch of people talking, that's crucial. The characters as written are very Israeli. They're direct to the point of rudeness, they're friendly at the expense of professionalism, they question assumptions and have rebellious attitudes. They're ordinary people I might see every day here, and the Israeli cast is so great that it never seems like they're acting. When they gave the same characters to an American cast, something went wrong. My theory is that, not knowing any Israelis well themselves, the actors probably had a hard time getting into the heads of the characters. What seems normal in Israel seems takes some suspension of disbelief if the characters are American. But whether I'm right about the reason or not, the American cast rarely comes close to the quality of the original. I tried watching a few episodes back-to-back between the two versions, and the American actors looked like they didn't know what they were doing by comparison.
I am actually looking forward to the third season of In Treatment, because the Israeli show only had two seasons. That means that they're going to have to write the episodes from scratch, with American characters acting like Americans. I expect that to turn out better.
