Love is such a cliché…
If you agree with the statement above , you should probably skip this movie and stop reading this review right now. Or maybe, being cynical, lonely, and disillusioned will make you appreciate this movie even more.
Lost in Translation asks a lot of questions but answers few. Like: has Sofia Coppola written the screenplay herself? It’s too mature for her age, some critics say and they’re probably right. Or maybe this one: if your average filmmaker (i.e. family name’s not Coppola) had clawed his/her way through with this script in hand, which studio boss in his right mind would have given a green light?
Anyway, the script’s done, the movie’s made, so I’ll let these questions slide for now. The biggest question for anyone seeing the movie is: “What the hell did Bill Murray whisper at the end?” I’ll come back to it later.
Lost in Translation’s establishing shot is a medium close-up of Scarlett’s butt in see-through panties. Once the whole person is in view, we see the butt’s firmly attached to Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a lonely young woman. Her quarter-life crisis is matched only by the midlife crisis of the other protagonist, Bob Harris (Bill Murray).
Sidebar: I saw Scarlett was recently when she was on location shooting Black Dahlia. The movie production was outsourced to Bulgaria, so I got lucky!
They both inhabit a luxurious but cold Tokyo hotel. Bob is a famous actor whose career took a plunge (in the 80s?) and never recovered. He has come to Japan on business. He feels bad about selling out – $2M for doing several commercials for Suntory Whiskey. Tired horses get killed and (re)tired actors go to Japan. Looking at a bleary-eyed Bob, you definitely feel sorrier for the latter.
There’s an old story about a studio boss who wanted to throw a big party and decided to invite several of the top comedy writers, assuming they’ll provide the necessary entertainment. Unfortunately, the comedy writers proved to be reclusive, cynical, and depressive, thus ruining the party. Bob is definitely a party pooper but not without humor.
Some of the best and funniest scenes are the interactions of Bob with the Suntory people, especially the director for the TV commercials. His manic personality is matched later in the movie with that of a Japanese talk show host. His zeal definitely borders on the absurd but judging by the few pieces of Japanese television I’ve seen, he’s totally in character.
Bob is too tired and sad to be funny in a professional sort of way so keeps the funny bits for Charlotte. She’s a Yale graduate (major in philosophy) who’s unhappily married to a popular photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) on an assignment in Japan.
Japanese culture is so different that it’s impossible to blend in or go with the flow. They’re both forced to share their own company for extended periods of time. Unable to sleep, they have plenty of time to examine their positions in life.
The chemistry between the two is obvious, so they quickly jump at the chance to exchange the solitary confinement for a double bed. They lie on the bed asking questions: “Does it get easier?” and “How do you survive 25 years of marriage?” There aren’t any straight or easy answers to these questions so Bob often goes for a humorous one:
Bob: Well you figure, you sleep one-third of your life, that knocks out eight years of marriage right there. So you’re, y’know, down to 16 and change. You know you’re just a teenager, at marriage, you can drive it but there’s still the occasional accident.
They do spend some time in bed but that doesn’t mean they have sex. That would’ve been a total cliché: an older man seduces a young woman. The movie’s having none of that. It ends on a hug and a whisper in the ear.
In his interviews, Bill Murray has refused to say what he whispered. It wasn’t in the script either. Thanks to the miracles of modern technology (i.e. sound editing software), I’m able to bring you at least one answer from this movie.
At the end, Bill Murray whispers: “I’ll always remember the past few days with you… Don’t part mad, tell him the truth, okay?”
I loved seeing this movie for a second time. I’ve forgotten how funny it was. In my Sideways review, I’ve said that some movies age like wine. You come back to them a year or two later and the bouquet’s become richer, the body fuller.
Perhaps ironically, this movie is best enjoyed with a bottle of wine over a romantic dinner… with your wife.
I agree with most of what you say, however I think you need to intepret the title a bit more…
Lost in Translation is about two people 20 years apart, sharing a similar feeling of being “lost”…
- Lost in a foreign country where they don’t understand the language, customs, etc.
- Lost in their careers – Charlotte does not know what she wants to do, and Bill is unemotionally promoting a whisky for 2 million dollars
- Lost in their lives and relationships – Charlotte feels isolated and does not identify with her husband, or the world in which he lives. He seems caught up in a world where he has time to talk mundane shit with the famous, bimbo actress they run into at the hotel, but doesn’t have time to spontaneuosly drink champagne with his wife. The difference in their emotional state is clear when he kisses her goodbye, happy and excited to be pursuing his career as a successful photographer, leaving her alone in her hotel room to dwell on her life, surrounded by the unopened champagne and self-help books.
Bob is struggling with the fact that his life has become monotonous and unexciting. His phone conversations with his wife are strained and centre around real-life, daily issues – picking carpet samples, his child’s birthday party, etc. As he says to Charlotte, his wife and he used to have fun when they were younger… but then came the kids and the spontanaity / fun was somehow lost.
Both characters find temporary relief from their lives in eachother. On their first night out, Bob turns his shirt inside out and accepts Charlotte’s analysis he is having a mid-life crisis. They end up partying all night, and emotionally connecting without words or actions. Their relationship is sexually charged, however they both know to act on their feelings would ruin everything (and the movie). As a comparison, Bob has a meaningless, un-sexual, regrettable, cheap, one-night stand with the lounge singer instead.
However I think the element I appreciated most is I think Sofia Coppola perfectly captured the romantic ideal of two strangers fatefully meeting while in a foreign country, and emotionally connecting on a deeper level than many people do with those they have known for years…
I could go on about how much I loved this movie (and the soundtrack too)… but i won’t. I will just look forward to Sofia’s next film, and hope it will compare.
ps. Thanks for telling me what he whispered!
Hey Rollergirl,
Thanks for your review. I think you’re on to something. I don’t agree about the party, however. I don’t think the interaction is sexually charged. I think I know where you’re coming from though. You are a Scorpio. If you see two ants running around each other, you’ll probably think it’s sexually charged
Anyway, thanks for the long comment – I do appreciate your take on it.
In your review you mentioned how some movies improve like fine wine…this one is a perfect example. This evening I watched it for the second time, a while after I first saw it. While I liked it the first time, I enjoyed it much more this time.
I love this movie for all of the reasons that Rollergirl describes. For those who have not spent much time (or any at all) it is easy to get the strange disconnected feeling that they highlight in the film.
I would be so lucky to find a friend like that at those moments. It’s a rare gift, and I think that is what the meaning of the movie is. I agree, if they had become intimate it would have ruined the story.
For me this is a special movie, and I wish there were more movies that could touch upon this type of experience.
Thanks for your comment, Shadow. I agree I can’t picture how an intimate relationship could’ve worked on screen. It would’ve turned the movie into something totally different.
Hey thanks for the comments and review I have always wanted to know what murray whispered in scarlottes ear.
I now have one final question about the movie that I hope you, or someone can answer. I love the music in every scene of this movie I bough the soundtrack to be let down by the fact that one of the songs is missing. I’m wondering what the name is and who sings the song in the strip club, can anyone help me out? Thanks in advance.
John
John, I did a little digging and found that that song is called ‘Fuck the Pain Away’ and is done by Peaches. Hope that helps.
I think that is what the meaning of the movie is. I agree, if they had become intimate it would have ruined the story.
I think this is the only place on the internet that someone could answer what Bob said in her ear. THANKS!
In the scene where Charlotte is observing the locals playing games in an arcade, there was a japanese pop song playing (while a kid was playing some sort of dance game) and I’d love to find out what song it is and who sings it. Can anyone help me?
I suspect that’s thereason general public want to read blog….Internet visitors generally create blogs to declare themselves or their secret views. Blog grant them same matter on the monitor screen what they specifically needed,so as the above stuffs declared it.
To Steffan W:
If you’re talking about the pop’n music game, where the kid is beating on the bubbles with his hands (after the kid with the guitar), then the song is “Yume Ari” by Des-Row. It’s from Pop’n Music 8. You can check out this youtube video to see if it’s the right one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGjNPp7EdsE
To help those looking for songs found somewhere in the movie, this is a pretty good site. It even has the time during the movie at which the track played: http://www.weareawake.org/litoundtrackinfo.htm
I just watched this movie for the first time tonight. I am in love with it. I don’t think any film that I watch beyond this one, will ever make me feel the way I did after watching Lost in Translation.
Much love to the people on this blog!
I believe the whisper at the end (as it wasn’t scripted) was to be left to individual interpretation. I would love to “know the answer” but I believe Bill Murray whispered words from his own angle of completion rather than the Director or anyone else’s. I would have hoped for such words in my own imaginative ending. Bill’s is fitting enough.
I’m just thankful with modern sound editing that he did not whisper to Scarlett Johansson “I should have touched your see through pink panties in that double bed.” It could have ruined film analyses for everyone. Then again…
hylaeos@aol.com
If you liked “Lost in Translation”, you’ll love ONCE. It’s almost like they are the same film. ONCE comes out on DVD in mid-December – but keep it out of your Netflix queue for a few days so I can Once twice
thats not what he said check this
http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/13/digital-processing-reveals-the-final-whisper-in-lost-in-translation/
“Sofia Coppola gave interviews saying that nothing was officially scripted, and that only Johansson and Murray know what was really said.”
That’s the truth, no matter what anyone says or how “digitally processed” it was done, no one knows!!
I love this movie. Also, the fact that they didn’t have sex is great for un relieved tension. That said, to believe Bob and Charolette relationship is not sexually charged is to totally ignore the truth. First, charloette is beautiful and no red blooded american man is laying next to her with out at least the though flying through his head. Second, is to totally ignore body language, for instance, in the elevator towards the end were the hesitate to kiss each otherl, and then again after relizing they kissed to soon. Or the way he held her head during the final hug, or Charolette looking back to him as he left, just to name few. If anyone could possibly think that a closer relationship was not at least being though about by these two people, both of which are in unhappy reationships, then it would be safe to say that one would also think a porn movie was not sexually charged also.