Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation is a (2003) motion picture. It was the second writing and directorial effort of Sofia Coppola, after The Virgin Suicides.

Synopsis

On its surface, Lost in Translation is a movie about culture shock between East and West, yet this reveals itself as a metaphor for more important themes of alienation and loneliness, and alternatively companionship. The film explores how these themes comingle at certain stages in life, against the background of highly modern Japanese cityscapes.

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Bob Harris (played by Bill Murray), is an American movie star on the downward slope of his career who has come to Tokyo, Japan, to film a Suntory whisky commercial. His marriage has cooled off decidedly—his wife contacts him frequently, not to actually talk to him, but to get his opinion on carpet samples or to remind him that he forgot his son's birthday. Harris finds himself in a city and culture beyond his comprehension for reasons that he has trouble remembering. Scarlett Johansson is Charlotte, a recent philosophy graduate of Yale University, the wife of a Rolling Stone-type photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) on assignment in Tokyo. As both a hanger-on and a left-behind, she begins to wonder where she is and what she is doing, and who the man that she married really is. Her husband has more time for his work and young starlets (e.g., Anna Faris' Kelly) than for her. Bob and Charlotte, both lonely, lost, and sleepless, happen upon each other in the lounge of the hotel where they are staying (the Park Hyatt Tokyo) and strike up an unusual friendship.

Related Topics:
Bob Harris - Bill Murray - American - Tokyo - Japan - Suntory - Whisky - Commercial - Scarlett Johansson - Philosophy - Yale University - Rolling Stone - Giovanni Ribisi - Anna Faris - Hyatt

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Drawn together by their mutual dissatisfaction and alienation, the two experience the stranger side of Tokyo nightlife, playfully exploring the foreign city, and finding comfort in relating to each other when nothing else in their lives seems to fit. Against the expected movie stereotype of man meets woman, the friendship is denied the chance to bloom into romance, and yet their fleeting time together makes a strong impression on both characters.

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The film's pace is built around the characters as they linger in and make the most of passing moments. The movie lets the pictures and music tell the story, more so than the dialogue: the very prominent yet subtly organized soundtrack and detailed cinematography flesh out the minimal, open-ended acting. Bob and Charlotte are very much anchored in their surroundings, both disconcertingly unable to fit into the flow of things (as when Bob cannot believe that his commercial director's long-winded Japanese directions are merely a few words in English) and intent on creating moments of friendship and commonality through their circumstances (as when Bob is waiting for Charlotte in a hospital and strikes up a non-verbal conversation with a local bystander). All of these elements are drawn together to shape the course of Bob and Charlotte's relationship.

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In the end, some critics say the film is a delicately nuanced look at the mechanics of verbal and emotional miscommunication, igniting a spark of common humanity and yearning at the intersection between a mid-life and a quarter-life crisis. Slyly appealing to Baby Boomers as much as Generation X-ers, Lost in Translation rapidly earned itself a cult following for its almost uncanny ability to connect on a very personal level with viewers across the spectrum of age and culture.

Related Topics:
Baby Boomer - Generation X

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