Lost in Translation

Being in a profession where there is constant noise, I enjoyed this movie for a very odd reason. The characters are pulling away from a hyped up society, away from a world, much of which is based on needless, trivial noise. Everywhere they go there is more numbing action. Watching the director of the commercial gyrating, trying to act like a real film director, despite the fact that they are doing a 30 second liquor commercial, typifies some of what this movie is about, a world where people are worn into the ground by a type A culture that is as vapid and unnecessary as we can imagine. I thought the Bill Murray character developed tremendously. While this trip to Japan was excruciatingly dull (money isn't everything), I believe that he began to see things he hadn't seen before. I liked that while he was struggling with his marriage, the crises were simple, day to day things that living brings to us. The young woman he meets shows through a whimsical kindness, that he is worth something. She is refreshing to look at an to be with. He, like many middle aged men, has self doubts. Because she has a sense of purity and can talk to him honestly about her world and his, he should go back to his life a little more sustained.

It's been a long time since a movie has made me hurt the way this one did. Perhaps "hurt" isn't the right word. "Ache" is more like it. I could so completely identify with both characters.

Bob is a middle-aged actor caught in a life which has lost its zest and purpose, doing what he "ought" to be doing (making money doing whiskey commercials) instead of doing what he WANTS to do (plays). And then a young, beautiful, intelligent woman enters his orbit. On that level alone, with its mute longing and sexual tension, I can identify with him.

And then there is Charlotte, a student of philosophy seeking herself, her soul lost and adrift. She doesn't know who she is, doesn't know what she wants. Her life is a quest for authenticity of self. And I identify with her because so much of my life I have been seeking the same thing.

This movie isn't for everyone. They will call it boring, lifeless, limp. There are people, I realize, who have never experienced that kind of longing, who had never sought meaning in their lives, and searched for their own lost souls. They live for the here and now, without giving a thought to the spiritual aspects of life.

A friend said introverts will love this movie, extraverts will hate it. I think that is a fair surface assessment. This movie is all about the inner lives of two people whose souls connect for a brief time in an alien city. It is a love affair not of bodies, but of minds and spirits.

Some this movie will make angry. Some this movie will make weep.

I was living in Japan at the time the movie came out and I didn't get it at the time. My mistake was thinking the movie had anything to do with Tokyo and for me, seeing Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) be bored in Tokyo seemed so stupid to me.

But, I watched it again 15 years later and totally got it. Maybe because I'm lost too I finally got it. It's got nothing to do with Tokyo and everything to do with 2 people feeling completely lost in their lives. Tokyo is just a setting that's different from most westerner's every day lives to try to convey that feeling of "lost" to the viewer.

Neither of them have any idea what to do any more. Their lives seem meaningless to themselves. Charlotte has been married just 2 years but she's already disillusioned in her marriage. She calls her mom very early in the movie crying because she's in Tokyo, seeing new things, knowing it should be exciting but feeling nothing. And further, her husband is seeming like a different person than the person she thought she married. Her mom doesn't listen and doesn't have time for her (same as my mom, haha).

Bob Harris (Murray) is similarly lost. He wants to find some acting project he's passionate about but instead his manager has him making commercials in Japan. His relationship with his wife is clearly not going well (listen to their conversation on the phone about a hour in) and so he's lost too realising his marriage is basically over and they're just two people who happen to be living together.

If, like the younger me, you haven't experienced that feeling of being lost, the movie will probably do nothing for you. But, If you ever get in to a point in your life where you're feeling lost, watch it again and you might enjoy it.

For anyone who wants a synopsis of this movie, the critics Ebert and Berardinelli have excellent, complete reviews of 'Lost in Translation', and they both give it their highest ratings.

My wife and I saw it tonight on DVD, with DTS 5.1 sound and both think it is a remarkable movie. I like Bill Murray in just about everything, and this will go down as one of his strongest performances, as Bob, the actor in Japan for a week doing whisky commercials. Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte, the young wife virtually abandoned in the city to do her own thing as her photographer husband (Ribisi) goes to various locations for shoots.

What I liked most was the realistic feel. Being in a strange city, with unusual customs and a language you have no hope of understanding. Meeting someone who because of circumstances (age, marital status) will only ever be a friend. Being able to talk freely. Reflecting on where we've been and where we might be going. Many of the negative comments about this movie relate to an impression that it is 'boring.' I'll put on my 'maturity hat' and state that anyone who thinks 'Lost In Translation' is boring simply was not able, at least while they watched it, appreciate the inner beauty of this movie.

The scene that made the whole story come together for me was when they were in one of their hotel rooms (doesn't matter which), overhead shot, they were in bed talking, fully clothed, he is on his back staring at the ceiling, she is on her side, eyes probably closed, the tips of her feet barely touching the side of his leg, and he moves his hand and puts it on her feet. Then the scene fades to black. It is the kind of tender, non-sexual touch that tells us how close they have become, and that theirs is a relationship of mutual trust and admiration, not one of lust.

People like Bob and Charlotte really exist, and they really do meet up in very similar situations. After a week, they must go their separate ways, he to his family and activities of his kids, she to wait for her husband and figure out how to get out of the rut. We sense that he does not love her the way she needs, and we wonder what will happen.

Before IMDb eliminated its discussion feature there was a lot of dialog about what he whispered to her in the street at the end of the movie. To have made it obscure is suitable, it allows each viewer to imagine what they thought he would have said. In real life he is 34 years older, he does have a family, she is still just trying to figure her life out, to me it would have been a comment of genuine affection and encouragement that things will work out well for her, either with her husband or with someone else.

It's very interesting to see all of the ratings that Lost In Translation received in different countries. In Canada it is only PG, while in America it's rated R! And really, the only explanation for this is a brief scene at a strip joint that shows some nudity. I really look down on that R rating because Lost In Translation is a good-hearted film that should be enjoyed by all ages. Notice how during the 2003 Oscar season two films played the "only one special effect: the effect on the audience" card; one being this film and the other being Mystic River. Both are great films, both are rated R in the U.S., but only one of them can carry along its story without brutal murders.

So what can I say about Lost In Translation that hasn't been said a million times already? It's all true. It's subtle, down-to-earth, and allows the audience to observe and relate to the characters, Bob and Charlotte. Both of them have a life crisis to deal with, and I guess if you're thousands and thousands of miles away from your problems it makes it easier to take an objective look at them, even if they do follow you. Bob and Charlotte confide in each other and develop a relationship. That's what it's all about, and every scene is precious. It's a real and true to life kind of film. We never hear the lines: "Oh, Charlotte, I'm so glad I went to Japan. You've changed my life in such a profound way and you'll always be in my heart." That's because that just isn't the way it goes in real life. The feeling is there, the characters know it, the audience knows it, so it has to be left at that.

So, yeah, I love this movie. It's clearly the highlight of Bill Murray's career and marks the perfect first real stand-out in Scarlett Johanson's. It's so rare to see a movie that only has an interest in its characters (and only two of them, at that!) and makes them so charming, lovable, and familiar. This is a great example of non-Hollywood Hollywood films: the well-known actors and producers going to the roots of independent film-making. In an age where half the movies out there are packed with CGI, this is refreshing to see.

My rating: 10/10