Movie Review:
Lost in Translation
Ok I don't claim to be some bona fide movie reviewer with the power to wield influence over the masses in their decision at the box office. I can however, offer what I think and make connections to sometimes obscure relations which in a strange way sum things up a little. So maybe what I articulate below is not a review, but a wax lyrical of mind thoughts after the movie.
Sophia Coppola's attempt at this Oscar nominated movie is for the reflective at heart. Slow and sometimes monotonous, it is not for the average person looking for an engaging plot or action filled two hours. Rather, its appreciative facets centre around the axiom of a human's vulnerability in stranger environments and how everyone like us may be a victim to it. Think about this- Are people more susceptible to behavior out of their standard norm in a foreign country. If your answer is no to this question, then you will probably find this movie meaningless. However if you agree with me, then you might probably come out of the movie still feeling immersed in the plot, as if you had lived in the movie.
So how does the daughter of the Godfather achieve this? For a start, most people identify with a sense of temporary emptiness of the character that Scarlett Johanson plays. Her sense of drifting about life in a foreign country is compounded by her lack of activity and direction. And I assume that its this lack of direction that forces her into being caught by the winds of temptations into uncharted waters. Unintentionally, she embarks on a intimate relationship with a man facing a mid-life crisis. This happens as a result of an absence of emotional interaction with her young husband, who is busy with photography work. Perhaps what Coppola tries to send out as a message is the need for human beings to have companionship and receive attention and love. Scarlett Johanson's character was in a void without the human contact she was supposed to have with her married husband, and so she sought it with someone else.
Bill Murray is the ideal candidate to play a character facing a mid-life crisis. Though not drifting around without an activity like his female counterpart, he seems to be facing an impasse in his life. Having done it all as a successful celebrity, he seems to ponder and find something that is meaningful in his life. Sure, he has a wife and kids back home in the U.S, but they are simply just too busy for him. Maybe he is like Scarlett Johanson's character in that sense. He might be unconsciously seeking love and companionship in a world of bussle and activity. The status of his character and the dilemma of his soul points towards an important point- fame and riches do not count at all against one's need for love and affection.
The incompatible age difference between the characters says much also about the theme love and attention. It would seem unlikely that these two people would fall in love for each other at home in the United States. So what magic does Tokyo city posses to make these two individuals find companionship with each other? One plausibe reason could be the sense of identification in culture (they are both Americans). Or, it could be the specialty of the city that throws them open to experiencing new actions. But in my opinion, the latter is more unlikely than than the former.
Sophia Coppola's choice of the set is highly excellent. Tokyo is an Asian city
distinct in its language and people from the West. The unfamiliarity with respect to the conventional American city adds to its sense of alienation in the movie and the characters who drift about with their inhibitions down. I mean,
would an ordinary American at home be compelled to visit sleazy parties with english karoake words 'I wanna do.....and suck your tities' going amidst among a japanese song. Well, the movie shows two ordinary American who do go to sleazy parties that they wouldn't at home.
Somehow this movie becomes holistic in a way. It sort of doubles as this mini documentary of social behavior. Not only does it express the shortcomings of the two characters, it showcases the best and worst of Japan. For a start it films quintessential aspects of Tokyo life such as Pachinko Gambling, bright neon lights, cute pop-ups on TV. But to add insult to the undecodable Japanese accented way of speaking english, the movie provides more than subtle ways of highlighting some Japanese mannerisms that are seen as simply weird. It effectively reinforces the conventional stereotype of Japanese people though the portrayal of a ridicule and trivialisation of Japanese behaviour. One scene in particular, a Japanese escort says 'rip my stockings', to Bill Murray's character, then without warning after a polite decline for him, literally falls into a trance on the floor. I wonder if this is a move regularly seen on Japanese porn.
