6. Lost in Translation (2003)

five times. that's how many times i went to go see this movie in the theatre. five. and i didn't go on cheapy tuesdays either, i was happy to pay the full-price ticket to relive this movie over and over. it's one of my favourite movies of all time probably because it makes me FEEL. and *deep breath* you know when you just really connect to a book or movie? like when you can totally relate to and find parts of yourself in the characters, experiences, feelings, conversations, and the little moments? where certain things make you feel like you've just been catapulted back in time? and after you read or watch it you just need a f-cking drink? 

yeah, well Lost in Translation is one of those movies for me. but one doesn't need to connect to a movie on a personal level in order to fall in love with it - my love for this movie is based on the fact that it's so, so wonderfully beautiful. i fell in love with Sofia Coppola after this - especially when i had read that she wrote the part of Bob Harris especially for Bill Murray - who she has called her muse. apparently, had he not agreed to be in it, she would have dumped the project. that's a good girl.

Bob's an American actor visiting Tokyo where he's doing commercials for Suntory, a brand of whiskey. at his hotel he meets fellow American and recent college grad Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) - she's the wife of a photographer who's away shooting for the week. Scarjo's performance is touchingly vulnerable - she's so sweet. but it's odd - i'm not like totally in love with Charlotte - i think she's ok. personally, she's not like one of those characters in a movie that i'd instantly want to be friends with because there's something about them that you want to have around you. but that totally works for me - i like her because of what her presence allows Bill Murray to do with his performance, which is what obviously makes Lost in Translation such a great film - it's all about HIM. after meeting at the hotel bar, Bob and Charlotte form their friendship. when Bob asks Charlotte what she does, she tells him that she's trying to figure that out, that she doesn't really know who she is or what she's doing - she's kind of lost. but so is Bob (in a different way) so really the pairing of the two is spot-on.

i've argued (and yelled) with people who say that they think the movie is too slow and too quiet - that Sofia Coppola's shots drag on for too long pretentiously without dialogue or enough action. i actually really love her style of shooting - i think her aesthetic is amazing and her use of silence really works for me. especially in this film, where the backdrop is a crazy city like Tokyo. in the midst of the crowds and traffic, Coppola somehow gives the city a quiet, non-hectic feel. and the soundtrack to this film is just amazing. it's very day-dreamy, just like the film. the music that plays in the scenes where Charlotte takes long walks, visits temples, or when Bob is in the pool are just wonderful. apparently, when Sofia Coppola's dad suggested that she shoot the film in HD, she said that she wanted to shoot it in film because it would look more romantic. it's so true. the film IS romantic. and very SOFT.

this is a side of Bill that we don't see very often in films. he's more "real" in a sense - he's bored and weary. he's alone a lot. and even when he smiles for all the handlers and assistants and stuff, the smile seems forced, empty, and worn out. the contrast is so great between the characters - she's this young woman who has a lot of living still to do, and Bob just seems like he's done it all and wants to take a nap. but Bob suddenly gets this jolt of energy from Charlotte, who seems to be for him a vitamin B12 shot. he gets excited and his smiles are suddenly sincere. and i think it's being around someone so young and fresh and new that gets Bob inspired to get healthy - for example, when he's in the hot tub alone and his wife calls him about choosing carpet for the house back home in America, and all he wants to do is tell her that he wants to change his lifestyle - that he wants to start living better and not eat as much pasta. the conversation is tense - you can hear that his wife doesn't care and is annoyed, and that he's just exhausted with it all - it's nice to catch a glimpse of Bob the actor's "real life" there.

there are many wonderful moments in the movie, including when Bob is at the photo shoot - again, Bill's deadpan delivery "a-ring-a-ding-ding" - the eye liner, his movements for the camera, and how he and the photographer try to communicate is really subtlety funny. that scene though is funny in a different kind of way - it's not the funny Bill Murray we're used to. it's like you're seeing him on another planet, which was probably the point. 

i love the sequence of that night when Bob and Charlotte hit the town. before they go out she laughs at his yellow camouflage t-shirt and so he goes into the bathroom and just turns it inside out - cute. and it's really charming when they go to the karaoke bar. their choice of songs is SO telling for their characters - she sings Pretender's Brass in Pocket, a song about how a girl's gonna use all she's got to get the attention of a man she wants, and Bob does Roxy Music's More than This, about about how a guy explains that there will be never anything more in this relationship, anything more than what they have right now - sigh. their car ride back to the hotel is really sweet, and when he carries her up to her room and puts her into bed... see, in my fantasy, that's when IT happens (between me and Bill that is, NOT between Scarjo and Bill). but i digress.

i also really enjoy the fact that Bob sleeps with the hotel's red-headed lounge singer - when Charlotte finds him in his room with her the next morning, she leaves and the look of guilt on his face is wonderful. what a powerful scene when Bob and Charlotte meet after at the restaurant and she is SO hurt - she's angry, jealous, and annoyed. she keeps taking jabs at him, trying to get him to SAY SOMETHING, but he doesn't give her anyting (amazing), and really, what is there to say? i think Bob chooses to sleep with the lounge singer (and not Charlotte, as she would have hoped or expected) because he knows what will happen. he knows she's falling in love with him, and he too with her - and i think he sleeps with the lounge singer, not necessarily because he's horny or anything, but because he needs to FEEL something, and perhaps he doesn't want to ruin what he already feels with Charlotte, because there's a lot happening there. i always imagine that he's thinking, "could she and I ever work?" i dunno. i like it when movies don't give you all the answers. like in the final scene...

it's one of my favourites ever and i cry every time i watch it. they have this awkward goodbye at the hotel lobby, but when he's in his cab bound for the airport he spots her walking on the street - he tells the cab driver to pull over and he goes to her. apparently the kiss wasn't scripted. amazing. and the whisper... what does Bob whisper in her ear at the very end before leaving her? f-ck. you have no ideas how many times i've tried listening to it closely to figure it out. finally a few years ago someone slowed it down and figured it out... *spoiler!* Bob says: "I won't see you till the next making of Suntory. Go to that man and tell him the truth, okay?" 

ugh. now i need a drink.

"The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you." Bob (Bill Murray) in Lost in Translation