The Final Essay: Lost In Translation

The Final Essay: Lost in Translation

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The Final Essay: Lost in Translation

A fish out of water. The words used in the phrase itself, if taken literally have humorous connotations attached to them. However, the idiomatic use of the phrase is not amusing in any way for the individual that truly is a fish out of water. This phrase kept popping into my head the entire time I was watching “Lost in Translation”. The movie shows two American who are truly lost in Japan. This sense of loss is so profound that they continuously clash with their surroundings. They act like fish out of water for real, with no idea of what to do in a place they cannot call their own. They look awkward and behave awkwardly in an unfamiliar situation, with people that are way too different then they themselves and situations they have no control over. The movie was a depiction of what being at odds with one’s surroundings feels like and how even a stranger can become that safety jacket that can keep an individual afloat in tumulus waters.

The movie is written and directed by the Sofia Cappola, featuring the brilliant Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray in the lead. A study of the background of the movie showed the extensive thought process that went into the creation of this movie. The movie is based on the director’s personal experiences of the many trips that she took to Japan. She wrote this movie as a “valentine” to Tokyo, detailing all the good and the bad parts of the city in a well-strung narrative. In her own description of the city, she loves the neon lights and the experience of being there. However, we Americans, often do feel out of place in places like Japan, where the reigning culture is poles apart from what we are used to in the States. Starting from self-opening windows that highlight the start of the day is nothing short of excruciating for someone with jetlag. The showers not being tall enough to accommodate Murray’s tall frame and the translator for the commercial director, everything was a little too much for Bob. His lack of connection with everything around his throws him off-key for a bit, to a point where nothing makes sense to him ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"rPaWgHdQ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ebert, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Ebert, 2010)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":523,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/QUMIQ7PR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/QUMIQ7PR"],"itemData":{"id":523,"type":"webpage","title":"Lost in Translation Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert","abstract":"Bill Murray's acting in Sofia Coppola's \"Lost in Translation\" is surely one of the most exquisitely controlled performances in recent movies. Without it, the film could be unwatchable. With it, I can't take my eyes away.  Not for a second, not for a frame, does his focus relax, and yet it seems effortless. It's sometimes said of an actor that we can't see him acting. I can't even see him not acting. He seems to be existing, merely existing, in the situation created for him by Sofia Coppola.","URL":"https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-lost-in-translation-2003","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Ebert","given":"Roger"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010",8,4]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",8,11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ebert, 2010).

Every detail that went into the movie was well throughout and deliberate. Even the choice of casting Bill Murray was deliberately made. The character played by him, Bob, gave Murray a chance to draw from his own experiences. Murray had a rather bright career in the movie business in the 80s and the 90s. However, his fame had begun to fade, and he was reduced to playing smaller roles, the sort that couldn’t even hold up a candle to the illustrious career he previously held. Cappola hunted the Murray down for a year, just so she could cast his in the role and she was right to do so. Bill Murray gave one of the very best performances of his career and breathed life into the role. He made the role relatable, taking the audience with him on a ride. He showed them how isolated and out of place he felt as soon as he got off the plane and stepped into Japan. Firstly, Bob is a washed-up actor in a different country. The people here behave differently than he is used to, and it showed up in every single one of his expressions. He was disappointed. His marriage was falling apart. He could not understand his Japanese speaking director, accompanied by a translator that was no help. It was a daunting task, however, Murray executed it with perfection. Bob could not find any connection with his surroundings until he runs into Charlotte one night and strikes up a conversation CITATION Pet04 \l 1033 (Bradshaw, 2004).

Cappola chose a 17-year-old Scarlett Johansson to play Charlotte, a college graduate who is visiting the city with her famous photographer husband. She is usually left alone in her hotel room by a husband who comes and goes as he pleases. Throughout the movie, he seems to be more interested in his work and the city he is in, rather than his newly married wife, who keeps looking for ways to attract his attention in one way or another. She is not only lonely in a new city, but completely alone as well. She is in a culture she does not understand and her unfeelingness towards everything foreign that surrounds her bother her deeply. At one point, she tried to share her concerns and her feelings of awkwardness with her friend, but the friend seems to be engrossed in what is going on in her own life, in a typically American fashion, to pay any heed to Charlotte who is calling her to share her grievances with him. Johannsen’s portrayal of Charlotte is mature beyond her years. At 17 years of age, Johannsen couldn’t possibly know what it is like to be in Charlotte’s shoes, but she shows how much of a fish out of water Charlotte feels like when she comes across the things indigenous to the Japanese culture and she finds completed isolated from it. She cannot feel anything at all and that deeply bothers her. She remains in this state of turmoil until she finally meets Bob in the hotel bar CITATION Pet041 \l 1033 (Rainer, 2004).

Here, the story takes a turn. It gives two isolated souls, that have trouble feeling like themselves in a situation they have no control over and brings them together in a beautiful manner. The movie is nothing short of brilliant in terms of the portrayal of emotions and feelings. However, the movie raises its own level of brilliance and turns into a masterpiece when Charlotte finally meets and connects with Bob. Murray and Johannsson have been nothing but their finest selves throughout the movie, but here they turn extraordinary. The sheer focus on being found and the laws of human attraction and finding someone you can associate with is brilliantly executed. The attraction that existed between Bob and Charlotte wasn’t carnal in nature, but comforting in a way that gave these lost souls a point of anchor ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ZdCdVY9W","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ebert, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Ebert, 2010)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":523,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/QUMIQ7PR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/QUMIQ7PR"],"itemData":{"id":523,"type":"webpage","title":"Lost in Translation Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert","abstract":"Bill Murray's acting in Sofia Coppola's \"Lost in Translation\" is surely one of the most exquisitely controlled performances in recent movies. Without it, the film could be unwatchable. With it, I can't take my eyes away.  Not for a second, not for a frame, does his focus relax, and yet it seems effortless. It's sometimes said of an actor that we can't see him acting. I can't even see him not acting. He seems to be existing, merely existing, in the situation created for him by Sofia Coppola.","URL":"https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-lost-in-translation-2003","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Ebert","given":"Roger"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010",8,4]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",8,11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ebert, 2010). The connection they share with one another, giving each other a glimpse into their solitude and relying on one another for just a moment is something many people can relate to.

The scene from the hotel bar, where Bob and Charlotte are just sitting there, telling one another the intricacies of their marital lives, their reason for being in the city and why they cannot fall asleep even at this time at night is nothing out of the ordinary. But, having seen what these people have been through in the past few days, or ever since they arrived in the city, the audience can finally feel the tension in their shoulder easing up. They have been rooting for the two characters so far into the film. They have felt what these characters have been feeling and seeing them come together and find a moment of relief in one another is nothing short of extraordinary. Add in the darkness of the space, and the focus of soft light on the two of them makes them the focus of everyone’s attention, while the pair onscreen only focuses on one another. Both Bob and Charlotte lay themselves bare in that conversation. However, neither one of them knows the other person’s name. They have yet to introduce themselves and yet they are comfortable enough to tell each other everything about their lives. This goes on to show that one does not need years of connection with someone to feel grounded after being lost for so long. Just a good conversation with someone that can understand and sympathize with the situation at hand and just be there is something that should be treasured. The tagline featured on the movie’s posters state that “Everyone wants to found”, and Charlotte and Bob do find someone, each other.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bradshaw, P. (2004, January 19). Lost in Translation - Review. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,1118548,00.htm

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Ebert, R. (2010, August 4). Lost in Translation Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert. Retrieved August 11, 2019, from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-lost-in-translation-2003

Rainer, P. (2004). Sleepless in Tokyo. Retrieved from New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/reviews/n_9178/index.html