Shane Madill
The Silhouette
This movie is terrible. The words to fully describe what I felt while watching this escape me. The sheer amount of disappointment, boredom, and overall lack of interest combine together to create a bottomless pit into which I thrust any positive emotion I could have had about this movie. Though the first bit was fun to break down and analyse, the film’s themes are repeated to an absolutely mind-numbing point. This movie may be one of the most overanalysed pieces of work in the history of cinema. I guess if you chuck enough art house tendencies at a metaphorical wall, some critic will find a way to make it all stick.
There is absolutely no reason to care about any of these characters. No one has any goals to aspire to or any meaningful struggles or challenges they actually want to get through. The movie purposely shoots itself in the foot by ensuring that nothing meaningful happens at any point during its span. For over an hour, it drags itself through insanely simple characterization and the idea of how Bob and Charlotte provide each other a release from the rest of their lives. This is not an uncommon theme, and it should not be the only forward momentum this film has for its entire duration. Having a movie of completely passive and malleable characters, though easy to write, is poison to the viewer. Pick any four-minute segment in the movie, put it on repeat for the next hour and a half, and you have the same experience.
The acting was pretty good, though. No real complaints about that.
Alison Piercy
The Silhouette
Career-defining roles can sometimes make an actor a versatile star, but they can also condemn that person to playing the same character over and over again. Then again, the latter is not necessarily a bad thing.
In Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson takes on one such career-defining role. She portrays Charlotte, a young woman who has travelled with her husband to Japan on a business trip. As her husband is busy with his job and socializing with a female celebrity friend, Charlotte is left alone in their hotel room. The movie explores Charlotte’s feelings of estrangement from her husband and the feelings of isolation and confusion that come with being in a large city with a vastly different culture.
Johansson, who was 18 when Lost in Translation was filmed, showed a talent and maturity beyond her years and easily convinced the audience that she was older than she actually was. Prior to this, Johansson had only played minor roles as a teen star. Her appearance in Lost in Translation marks her transition into adulthood.
The character of Charlotte in Lost in Translation provided the stepping-stone needed for Johansson to become one of Hollywood’s most prolific female stars today. This is because many of the roles she has taken have similar characteristics to Charlotte – her beauty, her intelligence, and her believability.
One of the most iconic scenes in Lost in Translation is the opening shot of Johansson lying on a hotel bed with her back towards the camera, sporting a pair of pink see-through underwear. From then on Johansson has been considered a sex symbol in pop culture and many of her roles, intentionally or not, have painted her in such a way. Vicky Christina Barcelona and He’s Just Not That Into You are prime examples of Johansson’s sexuality being the central to her characters.
Despite the focus on Johansson’s appearance, many of the characters she has chosen to play also have wit and motivations beyond just being eye-candy. In her most recent box-office hit, The Avengers, Johansson portrays Black Widow, a reformed spy that uses her brain to outsmart several bad guys throughout the movie.
Finally, Johansson’s ability to act with conviction can potentially be traced back to Lost in Translation. In one striking scene, Charlotte, overwhelmed by culture shock and loneliness, calls a friend from back home. Slightly in tears, she attempts to talk her friend through her situation, only to have the other person hang up. Anyone who has needed to talk to someone and been unable to get through can instantly empathize with Charlotte, thanks to Johansson’s finely tuned performance.
For Johansson, typecasting seems to be more of a benefit than a burden. Many of her characters since Lost in Translation have carried on Charlotte’s intriguing combination of sex appeal, intelligence and authenticity. Audiences will have many chances to find out if this trend continues. Johansson is currently starring in Joseph Gordon Levitt’s Don Jon, and will return to cinema screens next year in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.
Bahar Orang
Senior ANDY Editor
This is a very quiet film. Most of the story is told through careful glances, silent movements, and even an inaudible whisper at the end between Bob and Charlotte. Everything is undramatic but still feels fragile.
Both of them are adrift in different age-specific life crises, and the bond they form is based on shared feelings of displacement and dissatisfaction in their lives. I don’t feel that Coppola ever tries to analyze or unpack these characters. She only finds honest ways to show two people who are bored and restless, and we never find them boring. I could identify with both of them. Charlotte, the young woman who doesn’t know who she is supposed to be – and even with Bob, the older man who is lost and weary.
Despite an intimate kiss at the end, in the middle of the Tokyo streets, they aren’t lovers. The physical attraction between them doesn’t really matter. Their friendship is a kind of nothing – talking, laughing, lying down beside each other – but the longing and the loneliness of it all is so relatable that each time I watch the film I feel strangely fulfilled by the end.
Cooper Long
Assistant ANDY Editor
He spies the audiobook case on her cluttered hotel room table and picks it up. “Whose is this – A Soul’s Search: Finding Your True Calling?” he asks.
Suddenly, her smile vanishes. “I don’t know,” she answers, with a playfulness that does not match her darting, downcast eyes.
Even though he cannot see her face, he senses her embarrassment and masterfully pivots the conversation. “I have that,” he says.
She laughs. “Did it work out for you then?” she asks, beaming.
“Obviously,” he quips.
This exchange between Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) occurs at the midpoint of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. To me, it is the linchpin of the entire film. In only five shots and five lines of dialogue, Coppola defines the ineffable bond between her two protagonists.
Although they attempt to stifle their feelings with alcohol, cigarettes and karaoke, Bob and Charlotte are profoundly aimless. Her vulnerability and self-doubt are exposed when Bob spots the audiobook case. Yet, rather than questioning Charlotte or changing the subject, Bob outs himself as similarly adrift.
Bob and Charlotte’s mutual ennui binds them together, and I would argue that this type of willingness to appear vulnerable in front of another person is essential for deep and lasting friendship off screen as well.
The tenth anniversary of Lost in Translation’s release is an admittedly esoteric topic for an entire issue of ANDY. Indeed, I sometimes questioned whether Sofia Coppola’s accomplishments truly warrant such a retrospective. Certainly, there are many other young writer-directors with similarly sized, but perhaps more consistently impressive filmographies. Paul Thomas Anderson, Jeff Nichols and Ramin Bahrani come to mind.
But then I think back to Charlotte’s face in the scene that I just described, and how the essence of an entire relationship is inscribed in the rise and fall of her lips. If one scene can define a film, then one film can certainly define this issue.
Tomi Milos
Features Editor
Chances are you came to Lost In Translation in an angst-ridden state, because Sofia Coppola’s second feature film is certainly not something you’d go out of your way to watch with friends. This tale of two lost souls finding love in a hopeless place…. finding friendship while far from home and the trappings of Western culture is one to seek out when loneliness and self-doubt have you in their perverse clutches.
A lot has been made of both Bill Murray’s and Scarlett Johansson’s performances (Bill would have won the Oscar if not for Sean Penn’s “IS THAT MY DAUGHTER IN THERE?”), but the city of Tokyo is the real star of the film, quietly brilliant in its own unique way. Murray plays Bob Harris, an actor in town to film a whiskey ad for a lucrative sum, but whose personal life is in shambles. Johansson plays Charlotte, an unemployed philosophy grad that has accompanied her photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) on a work trip although the emotional distance between them makes it seem as if they’re worlds apart. Inevitably, the two are drawn together and form a deep bond that compensates for the discord in their own lives.
But what truly puts the icing on the cake of this wonderful story of alienation is its ridiculously good music. More so than any other movie soundtrack, one can revisit a song and be reminded of the exact moment of the film in which it played.
As Murray gazes out onto the Blade Runner-esque neon signs on Yasukuni Dori, Death In Vegas’ “Girls” plays in the background, lending an ethereal quality to one of the most heavily populated cities in the world.
When Scarlett Johansson makes her way through the urban sprawl using the largest urban railway network in the world, Brian Reitzell’s “On The Subway” incredibly captures the feeling of being an anonymous commuter among countless others — 90% of Tokyoites use the subway everyday, that’s somewhere in the region of 8.7 million people —leaving you wanting more after it’s over.
Sebastian Tellier’s “Fantino” similarly echoes the mournful quality of culture shock that both Murray and Johansson experience, as they find themselves far way from their loved ones, both literally and figuratively.
Perhaps Coppola’s greatest triumph, however, was not in getting Bill Murray to join the cast, but in forcing My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields out of hibernation to make several original songs for the movie. “City Girl” is the typical shoegaze fare one would expect from the Irishman and wouldn’t feel out of place on Loveless. It is in “Goodbye,” “Ikebana” and “Are You Awake” that we get a taste of his creative genius.
No words can describe the unforgettable karaoke scene in Shibuya where Murray sings a cover of Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This’ that succeeds in being even more melancholy than the original. Coppola is married to Thomas Mars of Phoenix, so naturally “Too Young” made it’s way into the mix, augmenting the sexual tension between Murray and Johansson.
The film ends on a triumphant note with The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Just Like Honey.” The lazy stoned brilliance of the track will have you vehemently agreeing with the lyrics: “it’s good, so good, it’s so good.”
Michael Gallagher
The Silhouette
“Laughter is the best medicine.” This phrase is more than just a common saying, as an increasing amount of evidence shows that a good sense of humour strengthens your immune system and reduces stress. When you find a movie that gets you laughing, it is often just what you needed to forget your problems.
One of the quickest ways to get a laugh is watching a great comedy film. When it comes to comedy, everyone’s different. Some prefer the over the top antics of comedians like Jim Carrey, while others appreciate the unbearable awkwardness of Michael Cera, or the witty sarcasm of Bill Murray. Regardless of who is your favourite, viewers know what to expect when their favourite stars appear on the screen, and are ready to not take them too seriously.
Unfortunately, it is not just the viewers that don’t take comedians seriously, but the acting and filmmaking community as well. The best example of this is the lack of Oscar nominations and awards given to those involved in a comedy.
Despite how laughter positively affects one’s health, the Academy rarely recognizes its importance. In fact, the last comedy to win Best Picture was arguably Woody Allen’s Annie Hall in 1977. Is that really the only comedy that can compare to the many dramas that have won over the last 35 years?
Similarly, few comedic actors have received even a nomination for an Oscar, let alone win one.
It seems the only way to do so is when a comedic actor attempts to enter the world of drama, hoping to finally gain recognition for their talents, something that is frequently met with its own negative stigma and complications.
Consider Bill Murray, someone who despite considerable success in films like Ghostbusters and Caddyshack, was only nominated for his performance in Lost in Translation. Or think about Robin Williams, who hilariously portrayed an irresponsible husband looking to win back respect by dressing as a British nanny in Mrs. Doubtfire. Why did he only receive attention for Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society? Even Jim Carrey, who achieved commercial success in Dumb and Dumber or Ace Ventura: Pet Detective seems to only get respect for his work in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Don’t get me wrong, well-crafted dramas are great, but aren’t movies that leave you with a smile on your face just as important? Are we truly living in a culture where the only respectable piece of art is something that leaves you emotional? Why is it that there are so many more dramatic actors than comedic ones?
The time for handing out an Oscar for a comedy is long overdue. It is time to recognize just how difficult it is to make a person laugh, and how truly talented some of these performers actually are.
