-By Simina
A few months ago, I promised the people on Movie Quotes that I’ll write a review about my favorite film and it took me long enough to come up with some plausible reasons. And not even these are well defined. It’s not like I think of Lost in Translation as the best piece of cinema out there. I don’t even think of it as brilliant or intelligent. It’s not a movie I could easily recommend as a must see, because it’s not on everyone’s taste, a thing I discovered when I started the Facebook page. Not that it matters. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.
When I saw it the first time, I thought of it as sweet and sad and easy to relate to. When I saw it the second time, I thought it was kind of amazing how I was discovering that there were some lines and some character reactions and expressions, I haven’t noticed the first time. When I saw it the third time, I wanted to watch something peaceful to fall asleep but it failed to put me in the dreamland. So I’ve tried and tried countless nights to make it bore me. It didn’t. And just like that, Lost in Translation became the movie I saw more than 50 times. Even now, after years from our first encounter, I’m in awe when I’m in front of it. I know all the lines, all the songs in the soundtrack, all the characters reactions, and it still keeps me awake and interested. This is kind of unique for me. There are other movies I’ve seen more than 3 or 4 times but sooner or later, they all make me lose interest and I just change the channel or fall asleep.
The story is an easy one. A depressed Hollywood star (Bob Harris) goes to Tokyo for a commercial shot, where he meets a lonely and neglected young wife (Charlotte). In a strange country with a strange language, where they both feel out of place, they form a sort of friendship that borders with infatuation and love. Or that’s how I like to believe. Every single time I watch it, I want it to have a different ending. But it never happens, because there’s no time machine for Sofia Coppola to go back in 2003 and mend things up for my personal satisfaction. Yes, every single time, this movie leaves me a bit heartbroken.
If the role of Bob Harris would’ve been given to someone else, I don’t think the film would’ve had the same effect. Thank God Sofia Coppola wrote the character with Bill Murray in mind and that he accepted it. He has that sort of face and voice that makes you like him instantly. Except Ghost World, Lost in Translation is the only film with Scarlett Johansson I like. It was before she embraced her sexuality and started playing in “femme fatale” roles, so she appears sweet and young, just like her character should be.
I like its slow pace, and how the scenes fit perfectly with the songs in the background. I love Bob and Charlotte, how they meet, how easily they connect and how everything they’re saying to each other seems to have double meaning. I love how their friendship is born, out of thin air, in a place they don’t belong. And the way Charlotte questions her existence and Bob gives perfectly sane and easy answers, and how they both have defects that make them more real, not fictitious perfect characters that only exist in literature or cinema. I love the clear and sunny image of the movie and the light atmosphere. I love that, even though I dislike the ending, I always come back to it, to heal me from some atrocity I’ve seen or just to relax me. I admit, it’s not perfect, and it doesn’t suit everyone’s taste, but for me it’s close enough.
Now I realize it’s really tough to explain why a particular movie is your favorite. It’s actually easier to talk about the ones you hate and give good solid arguments why. Soon, I’ll watch it again though, and possibly then, fresh in memory, I’ll come back and edit this.
Moody Clappers 