Lost in Translation
Dir: Sofia Coppola
Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola, is a romance. Bob (Bill Murray), a middle-aged American actor meets a younger woman, Charlotte, in Tokyo, Japan. Bob's life is
disjointed as he is ‘taking a break from his wife’. He is making ads in Japan and
the inability to understand the surrounding complex, seductive and fast paced Japan is mostly puzzling. His wife sends him carpet samples by post to look as decoration for the house back home in the USA - an absurd
gesture. He is confused and depressed as he attempts to decipher the meaning of his life in Japan.
Whilst being directed to drink scotch in an ad, a ten sentence translated direction is put into a few words. The scene is comic and ironic. We see Bob sitting on the edge of his bed looking lost and bemused by his predicament.
Whilst being directed to drink scotch in an ad, a ten sentence translated direction is put into a few words. The scene is comic and ironic. We see Bob sitting on the edge of his bed looking lost and bemused by his predicament.
Charlotte (Scarlet Johansen) is married to a photographer who pays her scant
attention. We see her swimming through brightly lit game parlours that are attractive
but meaningless. She says ‘I don’t know what I am meant to be’.
The irony is that these two characters who are in a foreign
setting and who are both estranged find meaning through each other. If Bob
cannot communicate with his wife, if communication is but a matter of faxes and
carpets being sent through the mail, then what hope does the wider gap of inter
cultural, cross-linguistic communication have?
Yet the two find comfort by at least expressing their dismay
to the other….in the end love, or at least the respect that listening affords,
wins in this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment