Lost In Translation
I love this film. After watching it for the third time last night, it finally dawned on me how great this movie was, and how much I couldn't get it out of my head. This really is one of those films that once you reflect upon it, you realise just how great it was. You probably won't love it the first time, but overtime it will grow on you, giving you the urge to watch it again.
Now, the reason why I love this movie is because of it's unconventional way of telling a story, and its simplicity. The film moves at a very slow pace, one which most people will find boring, and doesn't really have much of a plot. But the plot isn't important. This film focuses on how two people find themselves through each other in a foregin city, and create a friendship that will stay with them forever, even if it may not last.
The basic plot is about this washed up movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) who goes to Tokyo to film a whiskey commercial. He is going through a midlife crisis. Bob stays in the Park Hyatt where he meets a 20 something girl named Charlotte (Scarlett Johanson), and the two begin an unlikely friendship. There's plenty of comedic moments of the film, but it is most indeed a drama although it was labeled as a comedy.
The sheer emotion you feel in the film is what draws me to it, along with its simplicity. There's no dramatic scenes of dialouge, no betryal or lust. No. The emotion here is just too great to be put into words. One of my favorite scenes is when Charlotte visits a temple in Kyoto, and you can simply see the magic of Japan. The expressions on her face tell everyting, and that is all that is needed. At the end of the film, I wasn't feeling sad or happy or anything like that. I got this feeling like I had been punched in the gut, due to how moving it was. Them, standing in the Tokyo traffic, making their final goodbyes. What a moment. Too great for words.
This film has inspired me to one day visit Japan to experince the things shown in the film. Of course, the extreme alienation you experince there is something to expect, as portrayed so brilliantly in the film when Charlotte is sitting by her window in the hotel, watching the busy intersections of Tokyo. I hope one day I get the chance, hell maybe I'll even have my own LiT like experince there with someone.
All in all, this is an incredible film that should not be missed. I give it my highest reccomendation.
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