I watched this film quite recently after someone close to me kept pestering me to watch it. I’ve always heard nothing but hype for this film but I kept postponing watching it because I’ve never been one to watch romance films. I never intentionally seeked out romance out I’ve always found them cliche, predictable, and overdone. I was never one to have been impressed by two people falling in love (I know, how cynical of me!) But I gave it a chance……………and never felt more speechless. I’m internally beating myself up for not watching it sooner!
The film starts off with symbolic imagery. Charlotte, asleep on her side, locked away from the bustling Tokyo environment. Bob is in his taxi taking in the city bursting with life and yet he seems dull to it all. The slow intentional panoramic shots symbolizes how Charlotte and Bob both navigate and contrast to this foreign city seeming with energy despite being lifeless themselves.
Throughout the film, we see Charlotte in different positions locked away in her hotel room or various locations around Tokyo just feeling lost, bored, and unfamiliar with this new city. She’s staring idly into the distance of different shots always lost in thought; making the audience question just what exactly is it that’s going on in her mind. She’s in a new city in which she only came to support her husband. We are given a glimpse into her relationship with her husband. Too focused on his career to pay any attention to his doting wife, she seems exasperated and lonely in a city bustling with social events everywhere you look.
Bob, coincidentally, is also lonely. He came to Tokyo for his career as well. He is a famous American movie star making commercials for a whole new audience in Japan. After confusing and chaotic commercial shoots, he’d always return to the same spots he has become all too familiar with: a seat in the hotel bar drowning his sorrows away or in his hotel bed with the typical stoic expression marked on his face while he is lost in thought. From what the audience can understand, Bob is a man going through a mid-life crisis and a difficult marriage. His wife, worlds away, calling every so often and Bob only replying apathetically to her every word. From the outside, Bob and Charlotte look like two people in need of attention to make up for the loneliness clouding over their heads. And fortunately, they soon discover they have each other for that.
A small budding friendship forms between the two. Small smiles and anecdotes shared every now and then. Small touches and intense stares constantly being reciprocated just builds the narrative that maybe these two have the potential to be more than friends. It’s reminiscent of the feelings you feel at the beginning stages of falling in love with someone. The film just captures what it’s like to be in these shared and discreet moments.
The cinematography should be something to note. It’s captured in a way that just manages to make you feel like you’re actually there. That you’re experiencing Tokyo in real time with these characters. It feels so overly realistic and nostalgic for a place the audience isn’t even at. The soundtrack is beautiful as well. It has a certain ambience that leaves you in a feel good mood. It’s soothing, dreamy, and melancholy. These two mediums combined leaves the audience reminiscing for something more.
The film is carried in a pace that doesn’t have any particular climaxes. It’s just smooth transitions going in and out of each other. The lack of an ultimate climax just makes the film more magical because it plays out as an ordinary look into these characters lives. Quite similar to our own lives in the sense that there’s no big flashy event but rather just consecutive points fading into each of our days. All the points bleeding into each other creating a bigger more meaningful picture. Which explains why the ending is a bit uneventful as well. Bob and Charlotte say their final goodbyes and end their journey together. We don’t get an answer about whether that’s the last they see of each other or whether they intend to continue this short lived relationship. But none of that matters. What matters is that these two took each other out of their introvert shells and conquered their bitter loneliness and conquered this foreign city together.
Cleverly, the film’s name Lost in Translation is a double entendre. The characters Bob and Charlotte are lost in their own world of conflicts and they’re also lost in a foreign country with moments where there’s language barriers. It’s a double meaning to enhance the effect of symbolism. The film is also tied to the director’s, Sofia Coppola, relationship with her former husband and chronicles all the ways her relationship had a falling out. Her narrative is carried through Charlotte’s shoes. Her ex-husband, Spike Jonze, also made a film of his own detailing his own version of what really happened in their marriage. The film is called Her (released 2013) and I might be reviewing that one next on my blog.
I know it is quite lengthy but I couldn’t resist going so into detail about the nuances about this film. I really enjoyed it and I recommend that you all take the time to watch it. Thank you so much!
film raves 