So, here's a weird anecdote: Me and my ex were watching The Lighthouse together online (long distance relationship). Neither of us had watched it before. Turns out for some reason, VLC was not able to decode the audio codec properly on my end - I only had some athmospheric parts of ambience and music, but most interestingly no voice at all. Up until the very end, I thought they just went extra-avant-guarde and emulated a silent film in addition to the monochrome aesthetics. Only after we talked about it and she told me something about some dialogue scenes I realised that there was actually supposed to be audible dialogue.
Funnily enough, turns out it was still super enjoyable for me because I love artsy movies and surreal experiences, and I was able to piece together the plot and character interactions pretty accurately.
I was trying to watch the original Nosferatu but the version I was watching had dogshit Casio keyboard accompaniment. I muted it and had Spotify put on a playlist based on "Danse Macabre." Much better. That said, a proper silent movie with live accompaniment is fucking fantastic. I saw Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall that way and loved it.
Not the same thing, but the first time I saw District 9 there were no subtitles for the prawns. I didn't even know there was supposed to be any. I think I liked that version better.
It highlights how good the movie is, because even without knowing what they were saying you still 100% understood what was going on. That's pretty impressive.
"A scraggly, anonymous man (Pierre Jolivet) looks for love among a desolate, post-apocalyptic wasteland where almost no one speaks and roaming bands of marauders prey on the weak and unprotected. Assisted by a mad scientist (Jean Bouise), the man attempts to rebuild a broken-down airplane to expand his lonely, seemingly pointless search. At every turn the man is thwarted by well-armed, merciless thugs; however, hope rears its head he discovers one last surviving woman imprisoned by the toughs."
I mean, it was very clearly designed with the music in mind. Without it, you'll notice the loops and sped up movements a lot more, and it'll make less sense without the music.
Yes, all movies with sound typically are. I just mentioned it because I've been to bars that had it on TVs while other music was playing and it was really cool to look at
I'm gonna disagree with that first part. In most movies, the music is created to fit the footage. This is a rare feature-length movie where the footage is created to fit the music. As such, the visuals will warp to fit a score that, if you're watching it silently, isn't there.
It'll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won't be sure why.
It'll look cool, but there will be parts that look weird and you won't be sure why
Like most movies designed to be viewed with sound. I think everyone reading this question assumed the asker knew silent movies exist. I offered something with engaging visuals that doesn't need dialog to explain the premise