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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Anyone who has ever had the experience of traveling to a country where the
familiar can never be taken for granted and the simplest communication works
at cross-purposes will empathize with the frustrations and comic situations
of two Americans in a foreign land. Though a standard recipe for humorous
misunderstandings and mishaps, Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola's latest
effort, infuses a freshness to this comic fare
by using Tokyo as its setting and by bringing the urban mesh and culture
clash of 21st century Japan and America to the fore.
A celebrated and pampered American actor, Bob Harris (Murray), arrives
jet-lagged and bleary-eyed to begin filming the latest in a series of
Suntory Whiskey ads. With each exasperating day, his spirit is more adrift
within the fast-paced streets of Tokyo. Not even sex, drugs, and hot tubs
can entice or engage his interest for very long. That is, not until
Charlotte (Johansson) comes along. While her newlywed photographer husband is off on various
assignments, she decides, contrary to Bob's malaise - and in vain - to engage
herself in the religious shrines, local customs, and self-help recordings of
the Far East. As could be expected, their paths meet in the hotel lounge,
and a subsequent night of carousing and karaoke seals a growing kinship.
This mutual connection gives them both a sense of sanity and grounding which
sets them apart from the circus arcade of theme-park commercialism,
superficial fads, and self-absorbed characters.
With his signature deadpan inner-smirk delivery, Bill Murray balances the
comedy and pathos of a life, marriage, and career on the rocks while
Scarlett Johannson brings an endearing Roseanne Arquette
girl-you-want-to-take-care-of vulnerability to her role. However, the movie becomes more about the
older world-weary man and the younger bright-light beauty who save each
other rather than the more engaging aspects of societal and spiritual
disjointedness. Thus, an expansive premise becomes reductive
and
more self-conscious, as if it were running out of ideas. In addition,
repetitive shots and story sequences undermine the film's potential, and the
editing - beset with a jumpy, sketchy quality - interferes with the overall
fluidity of the plot. Although Lost in Translation does not depart to
uncharted territory, a number of stops are still enjoyable along the way. Max Rennix, New York-based actor/writer
DVD Extras: The commentaries and “making of” portray the crew’s trials and tribulations (a
typhoon approaching Tokyo, crew getting kicked out of the Shabu-shabu
restaurant, and shooting at the crowded Shibuya crossing without permission). It
is clear that improvisation played a major part in this film, as many times we
see director Sofia Coppola desperately trying to repress her laughter due to
unexpected consequences. One of the deleted scenes that could not fit into the
final cut is the hilarious “Matthew’s Best Hit TV.” In this segment, a
Japanese TV host Matthew Minami (who is not a fictitious character - this show
really exists in Japan) greets Bob and introduces him as “a
former buddy neighbor.” He becomes wildly excited when Bob gives him mackerel
sushi, squealing and hugging him. Then Matthew (Takashi Fujii) makes Bob play
strange games such as guessing what he is blindly touching (a live eel, which Bob
ends up pushing down Matthew’s pink and green striped suit). What is
most absurd is that this scene, along with the many other odd and peculiar
scenes among the special features, are true depictions of Tokyo. Those who have been
there and met its people will crack up, nod, and applaud Coppola for her keen
insight to this sophisticated exotic culture. Hazuki Aikawa, journalist, director of the documentary Yancha
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