Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation - Finding Familiarity in a Foreign Place

 Let's never come here again because it would never be as much fun.

 A washed-up movie star. A lonely young woman. Two Americans in Tokyo, Japan. Two people lost in a giant modern concrete jungle. One's in a mid-life crisis. The other is trying to figure out what to do with her life. Both are in a foreign land, surrounded by unfamiliar people and an unfamiliar language. They are alone. Nobody listens to them. What were the chances? In this wonderfully beautiful and touching story of unlikely friendship and romance, Sofia Coppola shows us how foreign places and unfamiliar people can be familiar and help us maturate and figure out ourselves through the story of a young woman and an older man who cross passes in Tokyo, who are both in a moment in life when they are feeling stuck and hopeless, and how they help each other finding themselves in this maze-like city. Sometimes we need to go to an unfamiliar environment to find ourselves - and this is the central message of this melancholic and oneiric masterpiece titled Lost in Translation. As someone who has traveled and stayed for a relatively long time in a faraway land (China), I can confirm that this couldn't be truer.

 Lost in Translation is not a regular romantic story. Bob Harris - played by the brilliant Bill Murray - is a faded famous actor who has to concede to the showbiz machine and make advertisements for a brand of whiskey in Japan to make money, who is also a man in a stale marriage and in a mid-life crisis. Charlotte - played by Scarlett Johansson, in one of her best and most memorable roles -  is a young woman who recently married a photographer and is a recent Yale Philosophy graduate who has no idea what to do with her life as she is left to rummage on her thoughts whilst her husband is away during the day on work. Two individuals alone and not alone. Both married but unloved by their spouses. They are both staying in the same hotel in Tokyo. One is old and out-of-date, the other is young and fresh. One is at the end, the other is at the start. Both with no one to talk to. The first time they see each other is in an elevator, surrounded by Japanese people. She looks at him and smiles.

 Tokyo, a futuristic alien city on present-day Earth. This city, which is beautifully shot in this film, is the landscape and backdrop of this romance - a dreamscape - and highlights the mood of this story. This unfamiliar city is almost a character of its own, ever-present and luminous. Everything in this city is unfamiliar to these two characters: the streets, the buildings, the people, the language. It's an almost hostile environment, yet also strangely oneiric. Tokyo, and Japan in general, has this strange vibe. A combination of tradition and futurism that cannot be found anywhere else. A city that is hostile and dreamy at the same time - dreams can be hostile, in a way. A city filled with people who are isolated and lonely in the middle of crowds. Is it a miracle that Bob and Charlotte found each other?

 One of the aspects I love the most about the directing style of Sofia Coppola is the way she captures what goes inside her characters, especially with what I call the "boredom of life". Lost in Translation is where, in my opinion, she captures this in the most striking way. With the dreamscapes of Tokyo, the loneliness of Bob and Charlotte is perfectly captured. Charlotte looking out the window of her hotel room at the tall skyscrapers. Bob sitting on his bed looking at an empty space. Nothing to do except wait for a miracle. Charlotte explores the streets and gardens of Tokyo. Bob films an ad surrounded by a foreign language he doesn't understand. Boredom is one of the most present emotions in this film - although this movie is far from being boring; quite the opposite, in fact. This boredom, which I call the "boredom of life", is not exactly boredom in the sense of being bored in a negative way. It's the boredom associated with being stuck and not knowing what to do next. It's the boredom associated with having so much time in your hands that you don't know what to do with it and you end up using it just to look out of a window and reflect about life - this is perfectly exemplified by one of the trademark shots of Sofia Coppola: filming the actor from outside of a moving car's window while the actor gazes out into the outside world. What to do? What am I doing? Am I happy with my current situation? Did I make the right choices? "I just don't know what I'm supposed to be", says Charlotte.

 As someone that is 19 years old, I identify more with the dilemmas faced by Charlotte. Wondering about what am I going to do with my life and what I am supposed to be is something that is very familiar to me. Charlotte spends her time trying to figure out these things. What to do with her Philosophy degree? Become a writer? As she doesn't have anything else to do in Tokyo, she spends her time reflecting about these things. But I guess something similar happens in a mid-life crisis. You question yourself about what you have done in your life. Has it been meaningful? Am I with the person I love? Am I happy with my job? Have I done everything I wanted to do? Do I feel accomplished? What am I going to do now? This is what connects these two people: the questioning and boredom of life. They are two people who are in loveless marriages. They have people in their lives, yet nobody listens to them. An example of this is when Charlotte calls a friend of hers at the beginning of the film. She starts to tell everything that she is feeling and even starts to cry. However, her friend interrupts her and tells her to hold on a bit, as she probably talks to someone else on the other side, and then, when she returns, she asks Charlotte what was she saying. She didn't hear anything. "Nothing, it's okay", she answers. "It's okay" - this is what we say when absolutely nothing is okay.

 Sometimes, you have to find a stranger to be heard.

 The first time Bob and Charlotte approach each other is in the hotel's bar after both give up on trying to fall asleep. They talk about what they are doing in Tokyo and their lives. they finally find someone who hears them. "I wish I could sleep", she confesses. "Yeah, me too", he answers. She looks at him with curiosity.

 Slowly, they start to hang out more and more after this. Bob doesn't have anything to do since a program he was supposed to do has been delayed, and Charlotte is alone since her husband went away to work. They hang out with Charlotte's Japanese friends and have fun. They talk and bond. The beautiful thing about their relationship is its platonic nature. This is not an older man taking advantage of a younger woman (or the other way around). There is an exchange of experiences in their relationship and the romance that blossoms from it. It's not an affair, in the traditional sense, since there is nothing sexual about it. Their romance isn't one at a sexual level, but at an emotional one. And the fact that there is no apparent sexual interest between the two makes this story so much more beautiful - love isn't only physical. Their bond and the moments they spend together are like a dream - that's why this film has such an oneiric ambiance. It's almost like an intermission in their lives, a moment to be able to learn and make an introspection, with the help of each other - a gap-moment.  Bob teaches Charlotte what to expect from life and to be hopeful and Charlotte teaches Bob to maintain his youthfulness and humor.

 One of the most touching moments in Lost in Translation is the famous scene in the bedroom, as they lay on the bed looking at the ceiling, with absolutely no barriers between each other. They talk about their insecurities and doubts - life. The intimacy between the two is incredible, it's as if they have known each other for ages - or maybe it's because they haven't. They are blank sheets of paper to each other and, because of this, they can be completely honest with each other. Charlotte talks about her concerns about what she is supposed to be. She talks about how she tried to be a writer but she hates what she writes and how she tried taking pictures but they all come out mediocre. Bob tells her she will figure that out. Maybe keep on writing? They also talk about marriage and having kids. Bob tells her how marriage gets harder and how having kids is the most terrifying experience you can have in your life. "Your life, as you know it, is gone. Never to return". But then, he says, the kids grow up, they learn to walks and talk, and they become the most interesting people, and you want to hang out with them all the time. There's hope even in the bleakest and scariest moments of life. There's hope in finding the correct way in a crossroads in life. They start to fall asleep while talking. Bob touches Charlotte's foot and says, "You're not hopeless".

 There's a very interesting part that I have to mention, which is when Charlotte goes to Kyoto. In this part, she's completely alone in a city, but this is a different city. Kyoto doesn't have tall skyscrapers and packed streets. It's an ancient city with old temples and gardens and has a much closer link with tradition. Kyoto is a huge contrast to Tokyo. She observes, in a garden, a couple that has just married. The bride catches her attention. Perhaps because of her pure, innocent, angelic appearance. Perhaps Charlotte wonders about what that woman is going to face in her life. Perhaps she identifies with her, as both are at the beginning of their lives and she thinks about what she herself is going to face in her own future.

 The last thing I want to talk about is their last moments together. Their last moments are almost as if Bob and Charlotte are trying to extend their dream, not wanting to hurt each other, not wanting to separate. They are fleeting. After they meet for the last time in the hallway of the hotel, they - and we - feel almost empty and as if something has been left suspended in the air. It's as if their relationship has been severed without any conclusion.

 But as Bob is on his way to the airport, he spots Charlotte in the midst of a crowded shopping street. He gets out of the car and runs to her. "Hey, you!", he calls. She turns and her face lights up, tears welling in her eyes. They hug. He whispers something into her ear. They kiss. They say goodbye for the last time and walk away smiling at each other, never to see each other again, as they now can leave their dream, knowing that it was real. The silence in this scene is breathtaking. They hardly say anything to each other. However, it gives a conclusion, even though it may be unwanted, to this relationship. We are left with the questions: What did he whisper to her? Will they meet again? What happens next? We will never know the answer to these questions. But we can wonder.

 And as they walk away and return to their lives, Just Like Honey from The Jesus and Mary Chain starts playing. We see Charlotte walking away and lose herself in the crowd as the lyrics go: "Listen to the girl/As she takes on half the world/Moving up and so alive/In her honey dripping beehive". She walks away carrying everything she has learned with Bob and with a new view of the world, ready to take on half of it. Is she going to make it? Sometimes we have to get lost in translation to find a meaning in our lives and gain the strength needed to conquer the world by storm - and this is the message Sofia Coppola leaves us with this brilliant ending of Lost in Translation.