What is it with Lost in Translation?

ryanciara

Hi,

I can’t recall a movie that divides opinions like Lost in Translation. Many people find it ether ‘boring’ or ‘breathtakingly beautiful’, there doesn't seem to be a middle ground, why does it divide opinion so much. My opinion is that you have to have a certain state of mind or outlook on life to really appreciate and love it. What are your opinions on it?

Kind regards

e_e

I don't know why it's so divisive. All I know is that it makes me laugh, cry and get goosebumps with how breathtakingly beautiful so much of it is.

Can't find any fault with it. Maybe people were expecting something funnier or more plot driven?

Charlie19

I thought it was just ok;)

It could easily make it into your other film thread.

phelixoflaherty

some of The tunes

Zaph

I came out of the cinema knowing that I'd just seen something very special, but if you'd asked me what was so special about it I wouldn't have been able to articulate it. Even now I find it hard to explain to people what is so great about a film with no real plot in a way that would make them want to see it. It's just a perfect combination of acting, screenwriting, cinematography, soundtrack and atmosphere that all somehow came together at one perfect moment. And I'm fully aware that that sounds like the sort of pretentious twaddle that I despise so much, but that's the effect the film had on me.

johnny_ultimate

There's a thread here about the film and a variety of responses to it. Yes, I am just posting this to save myself having to write up another spiel about why I love the film so much :pac:

Adamantium

There was something oddly real and not in a cinema sense when I first watched it, that I forgot everything else around me during the viewing.


I haven't watched a film like it since. It feels true
Lost in Translation is one of the most intimate films I've ever seen. And I don't even mean that in a romantic sense.

A real journey.

Yet if feels adventurous, claustrophobic, and quiet, and loud and its all compressed in what is an almost alien, but somehow familiar setting.

I remember when the credits first lifted watching at home, I realised it was over and couldn't believe how on earth, I was sucked in and on the edge of my seat I was over this friendship, as the song played a little voice in my head whispered quitely and said "I think you just found your new favourite movie" I just knew. Subtlely
Not in the way that Aliens or Terminator 2 made me scream internally "ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, CINEMATIC PERFECTION", as a teenager.

Fun fact: this stopped Paul Thomas Anderson from almost quitting making movies.

Charlie19

Just realized its just over ten years old:eek:

I loved the relationship formed between Scarlet and Bill.
I'll have to watch it again now, to offer any more opinion on it.

e_e

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

some of The tunes

Oh yes, fits the emotional tone and atmosphere of the movie so perfectly too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec9jY9kPIp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SPeEeCj3I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPly3e12ca8

ryanciara

The music is marvellous, especially "alone in kyoto" by Air. It really amazes me how people who don't like it find it boring and dull, while for people who like it find it beautiful.

john the one

Check out Scarlett's ear in it. She has a weird double ear lobe thing. Sorry for ruining it for some people think its her right ear

e_e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crMq5ULACqs

Love how the 2 women sitting behind them can't keep it together.

ryanciara

What are some similar movies like this one in regards to the characters isolation and loneliness that sets the tone for the movie. It is just breathtakingly beautiful and I was wondering is there similar movies to Lost in Translation.

e_e

ryanciara wrote: »

What are some similar movies like this one in regards to the characters isolation and loneliness that sets the tone for the movie. It is just breathtakingly beautiful and I was wondering is there similar movies to Lost in Translation.

Definitely In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar Wai was a big influence on Lost In Translation afaik.

john the one

john the one wrote: »

Check out Scarlett's ear in it. She has a weird double ear lobe thing. Sorry for ruining it for some people think its her right ear

I think that I could get past that. Because of her personality.

FearDark

ryanciara wrote: »

What are some similar movies like this one in regards to the characters isolation and loneliness that sets the tone for the movie. It is just breathtakingly beautiful and I was wondering is there similar movies to Lost in Translation.

Lost in Translation is my favorite movie ever... nothing before or since has come close but "Her" explores similar themes and immediately made me think of LiT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV6mXIOVl4

Call Me Jimmy

It doesn't feel like a typical 'movie'. It was bound to divide people because of the lack of a clear plot or direction, arch if you will. It makes YOU feel like you are out working in tokyo. It puts you there and makes sure not to remind you you're watching a film. The feelings it conjurs are mostly subtle, in line with what the feelings would be like if you were experiencing them. It shows the 'boring bits' of relationships and being in a place like that, not every second of a holiday is AMAZING so it makes it more real again. But this collection of 'boring bits' is what turns a lot of people away. I have no problem with that.

That's enough of a gush for now.

briany

Lost in Translation? It's a nice little film that bears watching more than once, but mainly for Bill Murray as he's just one of those actors who immediately improves anything he's in.

Overheal

Its not a film that really seemed set to go evoke one thing or another.

When I saw it, couldn't place my finger on it, but it got flagged as one to remember for some reason.

Adamantium

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

It doesn't feel like a typical 'movie'. It was bound to divide people because of the lack of a clear plot or direction, arch if you will. It makes YOU feel like you are out working in tokyo. It puts you there and makes sure not to remind you you're watching a film. The feelings it conjurs are mostly subtle, in line with what the feelings would be like if you were experiencing them. It shows the 'boring bits' of relationships and being in a place like that, not every second of a holiday is AMAZING so it makes it more real again. But this collection of 'boring bits' is what turns a lot of people away. I have no problem with that.

That's enough of a gush for now.

Its about finding a soulmate (not in a romantic sense, though i can be) or best friend (male or female) that everybody should be lucky enough to experience many times in a lifetime.

THAT friend who you almost have telepathy between each other, and you'll just burst out laughing together in the silence for no real reason, like you'RE speaking in a different language, and nobody has a clue what the two of ye are talking about.

Until:

"To the calls of get a room you two" and we laugh even harder.

As a purely heterosexual guy, I've had a few rare experiences with people, (male and female) where it was like, one mind was operating out of two bodies.



Its not romantic or platonic, it something more subtle, more innocent and playful than that. Weird, but turns life from moments of fleeting joy to deathbed memories of happiness.

Now I'll shut up gushing as well, as I sound terribly pretencious

Yeah the movie is good too! :P

Looper007

FearDark wrote: »

Lost in Translation is my favorite movie ever... nothing before or since has come close but "Her" explores similar themes and immediately made me think of LiT.

you need to get out and watch more films.

I take Her over the utter tripe and over rated crap that is LIT, a rich girl having a bit of a flounce cause her husband is working in a awesome city like Toyko and won't pay her a little attention. Oh the despair. The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film, it's becoming slightly boring. apart from Bill Murray I can't stand this film and sheer love that get's bestowed upon it.

I can see why some people hate this movie.

MfMan

Looper007 wrote: »

you need to get out and watch more films.

I take Her over the utter tripe and over rated crap that is LIT, a rich girl having a bit of a flounce cause her husband is working in a awesome city like Toyko and won't pay her a little attention. Oh the despair. The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film, it's becoming slightly boring. apart from Bill Murray I can't stand this film and sheer love that get's bestowed upon it.

I can see why some people hate this movie.

I don't hate it particularly, but it's just soooo dull and lazy, nothing happens. Anything that does happen is just the viewer's imagination thinking that it actually did occur. And I hate Bill Murray; like all his films, just sits there with a bored stare on his face, and people think he's acting.

e_e

Looper007 wrote: »

The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film.

If you're gonna blame a film of this not one with music as perfectly fitting as Lost in Translation.

I've never understood why people need to categorize music/movies in terms of hipness either, it just feels completely vague and arbitrary to me. It's just a very good selection of songs that were clearly chosen carefully for the mood and themes of the film. In fact I have no idea why you rank Her over Lost in Translation, the movies are so similar remarkably similar yet different in their own little ways. I'd actually argue that Her is trying to be trendy moreso too whereas more or less everything in LIT feels entirely genuine.

In fact take that entire post of yours and apply it to Garden State which is a genuinely trite, empty and annoying film.

e_e

MfMan wrote: »

nothing happens.

This is the complaint of Lost in Translation that I most reject. Of course things happen, they just don't happen on the contrived, loud and melodramatic level of so many other similar movies. At the time so many films had themes and messages that were basically hectored to the viewer yet this is a relatively mainstream film that dared to be quiet, subtle and low key. All the better for it too.

Hesho

The soundtrack is what I always come back to. When I watched the film a couple of years back for the first time in ages the scene with 'Sometimes' really stuck out for me. Everything about the setup for that song coming into play was really deftly done.

As an aside, this track uses a sample from the film. Not a huge stretch to say that the track was probably inspired by the film. I could definitely see it being used in there. Released on a record label based in Dublin too!

johnny_ultimate

Looper007 wrote: »

a rich girl having a bit of a flounce cause her husband is working in a awesome city like Toyko and won't pay her a little attention. Oh the despair.

Sure every single film can be dismissed by reductively and mockingly reducing it down to its core premise It cannot capture the endless nuances of why any given film does or does not work.

The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film

I would say this is neither fair or accurate criticism. Many films before it adapted soundtracks that heavily relied on popular or cult music. Both Harold and Maude and The Graduate are good examples - two films with soundtracks dominated by 'hip' artists (Cat Stevens and Simon & Garfunkel respectively) and IMO in a far more 'look who we have on the soundtrack!' kind of way than Lost in Translation (not saying they don't work - both are excellent films because of / in spite of the music). Then you have people like Martin Scorsese, Cameron Crowe and Quentin Tarantino using the mix type heavy style of soundtrack design well before the release of LiT - and I'd strongly argue that those directors have had a far more obvious (and in some cases unfortunate) influence on independent and mainstream filmmakers alike than Sofia Coppolla has. Then you have stuff like Magnolia - a film built around the score of a cult musician (Jon Brion) and the songs of an acclaimed singer-songwriter (Aimee Mann).

The thing about Lost in Translation's soundtrack, as mentioned above, is how it gels so wonderfully with the film's dreamy, elegiac photography, editing, performances and storytelling. It's one of those cases where everything comes together in incredibly unlikely harmony. The mix of original and borrowed compositions from Kevin Shields etc... is simply one element of what is overall a beautifully composed mosaic, where each element links together in an elegant way that feels both natural and carefully constructed. If lesser films have tried to recapture that, then they have likely failed not just because of a reliance on music choices, but more fundamental misunderstandings or inability to replicate exactly what makes Lost in Translation such a potent brew.

desertcircus

The triumph of aesthetic over substance. As a story, I find it hard to think of one I care less about. Wealthy white people are bored and alienated in a foreign land and kind of strike up a thing? Hold me back.

And if the film isn't racist, it's certainly incredibly tone deaf. Do we meet any Japanese characters in their own right? Do we get any insight into aspects of Japanese culture we didn't know about? Of course not: the most interesting thing about the megacity capital of one of the world's major economic powers is the fact that two white people are bored in it. It's not a film about Japan, or about Japanese people: it's a film about how hard it is to be well-off, successful and white that just treats a whole country and people as an exotic backdrop. I have no interest in a film that thinks the most interesting story you can possibly tell in Tokyo is one about two white people who only engage with the city on an utterly superficial level.

Mickeroo

desertcircus wrote: »

The triumph of aesthetic over substance. As a story, I find it hard to think of one I care less about. Wealthy white people are bored and alienated in a foreign land and kind of strike up a thing? Hold me back.

And if the film isn't racist, it's certainly incredibly tone deaf. Do we meet any Japanese characters in their own right? Do we get any insight into aspects of Japanese culture we didn't know about? Of course not: the most interesting thing about the megacity capital of one of the world's major economic powers is the fact that two white people are bored in it. It's not a film about Japan, or about Japanese people: it's a film about how hard it is to be well-off, successful and white that just treats a whole country and people as an exotic backdrop. I have no interest in a film that thinks the most interesting story you can possibly tell in Tokyo is one about two white people who only engage with the city on an utterly superficial level.

I don't think that's a valid criticism because the film didn't set out to do that, it's not like The Last Samurai for example which was about a key moment in the country's history but had Tom Cruise as the main focus. The two characters are more or less alienated by the culture imo which is part of the reason they connect with each other.

I don't get why the characters being wealthy make them any less interesting either tbh. It's a subtle film about a connection between two human beings, their bank balances are irrelevant.

e_e

Except that you do get aspects of them enjoying the culture and getting along with the locals. What about the whole section when they go out partying with a group of them?

johnny_ultimate

desertcircus wrote: »

The triumph of aesthetic over substance. As a story, I find it hard to think of one I care less about. Wealthy white people are bored and alienated in a foreign land and kind of strike up a thing? Hold me back.

And if the film isn't racist, it's certainly incredibly tone deaf. Do we meet any Japanese characters in their own right? Do we get any insight into aspects of Japanese culture we didn't know about? Of course not: the most interesting thing about the megacity capital of one of the world's major economic powers is the fact that two white people are bored in it. It's not a film about Japan, or about Japanese people: it's a film about how hard it is to be well-off, successful and white that just treats a whole country and people as an exotic backdrop. I have no interest in a film that thinks the most interesting story you can possibly tell in Tokyo is one about two white people who only engage with the city on an utterly superficial level.

No, it's not a film about Japan, or about Japanese people, and it has no intention of being so: it's about two people who happen to end up there, against their own will one could argue. Nonetheless, it does capture what it feels like to be, yep, 'lost in translation'.

I've been to Tokyo and spent several weeks there all-in-all. The immediate impression is one of sensory overload, which in terms of sound and visual design LiT captures perfectly throughout: the cacophony of the arcade, the bustling Scramble Crossing, even the uncertainty of ordering food. It's a bizarre cultural cluster****, and honestly almost a bubble even within Japan - a strange and hyper-efficent mega-metropolis, where you really do feel like overwhelmed. The characters in LiT are very much just passing through, not nearly enough time to truly get to grips with a city that is a bizarre mix of indigenous and the international influences, and where every individual 'district' can feel like a whole new town entirely. Japan is a strange place in the way the people treat foreign visitors too - I've spent two months there, and while I've met and spoken with some amazing and friendly people, other times you're very much made to feel like you're 'different': sometimes directly, other times indirectly. Certainly Tokyo can be quite an alienating place even for locals, and the language barrier is significant enough that it can be quite hard to communicate with many people on anything other than the most basic level. I went to the nightclub the characters visit in the film, and honestly the dance floor was predominantly solitary people looking forward and dancing as if in a trance - it's a truly surreal experience.

Funnily enough, the characters in the film achieve insight when they choose to explore the country on something other than a superficial level. They're stuck in a bland Westernised hotel, which really is just representing their own personal purgatory, but also the only side of the city many visitors - especially those there on business - will experience. When they go out for karaoke and drinks with Charlotte's friends (Japanese characters we actually meet), or when Charlotte takes her trip to Kyoto, these are the key moments when they have those small but important realisations or insights that drive them to action. Above all this is a film about two confused, lonely people who cross paths for a brief but intensely meaningful period of time, but the setting plays an important and IMO sensitively realised role in articulating both what is getting them down and what ultimately brings them together.

Although I've never quite understood what Coppola is trying to articulate with the whole 'translation' sequence - certainly not an experience I've had when dealing with the Japanese language!

FearDark

Looper007 wrote: »

you need to get out and watch more films.

I take Her over the utter tripe and over rated crap that is LIT, a rich girl having a bit of a flounce cause her husband is working in a awesome city like Toyko and won't pay her a little attention. Oh the despair. The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film, it's becoming slightly boring. apart from Bill Murray I can't stand this film and sheer love that get's bestowed upon it.

I can see why some people hate this movie.

You spout utter rubbish on every forum now? "I need to get out more" if it's my favourite film? Really? Over-rated... that has NOTHING to do with my choice, I never read reviews or watch trailers, my choices are entirely mine and I loved this movie from the second I saw it. Go talk rubbish somewhere else.

AnonoBoy

Looper007 wrote: »

The fact every indie film now throws in hip indie soundtrack cause of this film, it's becoming slightly boring.

If that blame lies anywhere it likes way back with Pulp Fiction in 1994.

e_e

Looper007 wrote: »

you need to get out and watch more films.

I've seen close to 2000 films of different genres, eras and cultures while Lost in Translation remains in my top 50 of all time. Would you condescendingly suggest I do the same too?

johnny_ultimate

Keep it friendly, please, let's not drag the discussion down that direction.

FearDark

e_e wrote: »

I've seen close to 2000 films of different genres, eras and cultures while Lost in Translation remains in my top 50 of all time. Would you condescendingly suggest I do the same too?

The same, I watch about 7 or 8 movies a week, not the hollywood types either, I'm going through every top 100 list I can find and watching the movies I've missed through the years so I feel I know what I'm talking about here when I say that LiT is simply fantastic, not perfect but really really close. I don't want to insult anyone here by saying that if they don't like LiT that they don't get it they may take something different from it than me. To some it is just a movie without a point and "nothing happens", to me that's the awesome thing about it.

longshotvalue

Ive watched a lot of films over time, and Lost is still one of the best ive seen. Now that said my other favs are 500 days and Before Sunset etc, so i probably like a lot of these types of films. I though Her was very good as well.. There is Emotion in it that isn't easily replicated..

bnt

The attention to detail in the film is what makes it for me. If you've ever stayed in a big impersonal hotel like that, you'll know that little things are just off somehow. The whole environment is controlled with air conditioning, soundproofing etc. and designed with maintenance in mind. The rooms are made to be cleaned, not really lived in.

The sound of that hotel immediately evoked my own memories and experiences of hotels, especially a trip I took to Seattle complete with jet lag that hit me like a brick after three days. You really start to mistrust your own sense of the world at that point.

One scene that really spoke to me was after Scarlett hurt her toe and they came back from the hospital. They were just lying on the bed, not talking and she simply rests her toe against Bill - as if he somehow has the power to heal her. Sometimes a toe is not just a toe.

geraardo

I love Bill Murray as an actor and would watch him in anything.

Lost in Translation just makes me feel good thats why i watch it.

I love that movie, not sure why. I think the scenes were he is just living his day and not saying anything drag you in like its you living them, no dialog.
I think only Bill Murray can pull that off.

AnonoBoy

Deleted User wrote: »

I love that movie, not sure why. I think the scenes were he is just living his day and not saying anything drag you in like its you living them, no dialog.
I think only Bill Murray can pull that off.

I think Coppola as a director deserves a lot of credit for this too. While not all of her films are to my liking she does have a great talent for evoking mood.

Sad Professor

The wandering, aimless thing is definitely one of Coppola’s stylistic trademarks. She subsequently took it to the extreme in Somewhere, but Lost in Translation has a nice balance. I particularly like the early scenes of Johansson wandering around the city and countryside by herself. I never feel like I really know a character unless I’ve seen them by themselves, yet it’s not unusual for a film to never show even its main character alone.

ryanciara

When I first heard about it I thought it would be one of these cheesy "rom-coms" but I was completely blown away by it. I especially loved the start of it when Bill Murray arrives in Tokyo in the taxi looking out the window at the city with "Alone in Kyoto" playing.

tunguska

Zaph wrote: »

I came out of the cinema knowing that I'd just seen something very special, but if you'd asked me what was so special about it I wouldn't have been able to articulate it. Even now I find it hard to explain to people what is so great about a film with no real plot in a way that would make them want to see it. It's just a perfect combination of acting, screenwriting, cinematography, soundtrack and atmosphere that all somehow came together at one perfect moment. And I'm fully aware that that sounds like the sort of pretentious twaddle that I despise so much, but that's the effect the film had on me.

+1.
Lost in Translation is probably my favourite film of all time and when I try to explain the plot to somebody it just comes out sounding crap. I remember going to see this in cineworld, the cinema was half full at the start but slowly over the course of the film the herd was trimmed and it was basically me and about 4 other people left. I came out of that movie feeling like I had seen something amazing and I just couldnt get why there were so many walkouts. I think maybe people had gone in expecting something else because it was Bill Murray after all. Plus theres long stretches without much dialogue or any discernible action and its my experience that most people just cant handle that, they get fidgety and uncomfortable and just cant sit with themselves.

Phibsboro

Love LiT, one of the few movies I'd gladly rewatch. For some reason I didn't get Her at all, actually stopped watching after about 40 mins - should I have stuck with it?

I think one reason for the different reactions is where your head is at the precise moment you first see a movie like this - who you are with, what has happened to you recently, are you in positive mood, a reflective mood etc. I honestly think I could have seen LiT a year earlier and maybe not got it, not stuck with it. It is as though you need to buy into the initial premise and then invest some of your own situation into the gaps and pauses and spaces in the movie.

In the same vein, I thought The Tree of Life was one of the most astonishing movies I've ever seen, was in bits for days after seeing it - but I rarely recommend it to others cos it is really is touch and go for the first 30 minutes as to whether it reasonates with you or not - if it doesn't it is the most baffling, meandering film ever, if it does it is... a wonder.

Elektronske

stupid film about stupid wrinkly old man getting off with stupid young woman

Manchegan

I suspect it will be looked back on in the same light as Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961): The It Girl, the soundtrack, the wafer-thin plot (bearing little resemblance to the Capote novella), culturally tone-deaf. It's a film where what you get out of it depends entirely on what you invest in it.

Valmont

It's my favourite film of all time. It has everything: originality, beauty, humour, love, mystery and an absolutely cracking soundtrack.

Valmont

Elektronske wrote: »

stupid film about stupid wrinkly old man getting off with stupid young woman

Go back and actually watch it this time please.

Elektronske

Valmont wrote: »

Go back and actually watch it this time please.

please take you condescension elsewhere

xalot

It's years since I've seen it but I remember really really hating it. I had loved the Virgin Suicides and have no problem with slow, thoughtful movies but it just did nothing for me.

I remember finding the jokes about not understanding the lady who wanted her tights ripped (or something along those lines) incredibly racist but the main problem for me was that I couldn't have cared less about the two main characters, found them completely bland and didn't have an ounce of sympathy or interest in them.

Everything Sofia Ford Copula has done since has been woefully self indulgent.

Valmont

Elektronske wrote: »

please take you condescension elsewhere

What do you expect when your criticism of the movie is based on events that it didn't even contain? There are some worthwhile criticisms in this thread but yours is so far from reality it leads me to believe that you haven't actually watched the film or didn't even finish it.

In terms of the soundtrack, I think Kevin Shields would be very annoyed if he thought people were calling his music 'indie'!