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Movie of The Day: Lost in Translation (2003)

“Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun.”
People who know me know I love movies and frequently ask me, “What's your favorite?” Of course I never have a single answer. When I used to think of what made a good movie, I would look at a movie from all aspects: direction, cinematography, editing, acting, story etc. The sum of all these parts make up the whole, and are also what lead me to my opinion of a film...
Then came Lost in Translation.
The first time I watched this movie, I felt a strange sense of depression that lasted for a few days, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I watched it again and again, and felt the same way each time.
Superficially, Lost in Translation is a movie about culture shock, but the experience of Westerners in Tokyo is a metaphor for more existential themes of alienation, loneliness, and the desire for companionship. The film explores these themes against the background of the modern Japanese cityscape.
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 they way she needs and we wonder what will happen.
The movie takes a while to truly glean out the deep-seated motivations of both of its characters, but they become fully-realized in a marvellous scene where Bob and Charlotte lay fully-clothed in bed together. Here, they handle the 'big' questions in life, and not "Where did you go to college?" or "What did you want to be when you were little?" but "What is my purpose?" and "Does marriage get easier?" I was amazed at the honesty of the character's responses. Bob relates to Charlotte the experience of having children and the ongoing struggles of marriage, but a tinge of fear and apprehension runs through his speech. Charlotte hasn't really figured things out for herself yet - she says she's tried just about everything but hasn't found that niche. Coppola's screenplay takes these two separate beings, far apart in age and experiences, and makes a profound statement - both are in the same exact emotional limbo. Charlotte is confused and worried, but Bob is regretful and washed-up. In a way, these two are some form of deeply odd soul-mates. That is the heart and soul of Coppola's amazing work.
How many of you can relate to and have actually been that guy/girl on business, in the hotel in some foreign city, happily married yet feeling alone and beaten by life's banality? How many of us have been tempted in that very situation, to stray from the confines of moral adherence for the lure of a forbidden, if fleeting, joy? How many have felt that tingle- that spark- when a stranger smiles and you think, "you know, in another life..."?
Think of the last movie that really made you think, that had such a great influence on you that it somehow changed your life, even for the littlest bit. That, to you, is a great movie... 10/10

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