Lost in Translation - Help!!?

Question

Last night I watched Lost in Translation for the second time, and I still feel like I'm missing something. There were such rave reviews about the film and to me it just seems to be quite dull. Not a lot happens and it moves quite slowly. Is this it - or am I actualy missing something here? Please help!!

No - I have no idea what he whispered to her at the end - and I can't help feeling taht if we knew the whole movie might make sense!

Answer 1

IMO although the movie takes on the garb of being a romantic comedy, it is really about the emptiness of life, sense of isolation that the charecters are facing. The movie is bold statement on how people do connect in real life, but the meaning of the relationship is -lost in translation. It can never be communicated. I think Sophia Coppola has done an amazing job to convey this sense of absurdity and "nothing much happening" and still making it a very interesting film to watch.

Plot Summary for Lost in Translation
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/plotsummary

Excerpt from Review BY ROGER EBERT
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030912/REVIEWS/309120302/1023
The Japanese phrase "mono no aware," is a bittersweet reference to the transience of life. It came to mind as I was watching "Lost in Translation," which is sweet and sad at the same time it is sardonic and funny. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play two lost souls rattling around a Tokyo hotel in the middle of the night, who fall into conversation about their marriages, their happiness and the meaning of it all.

These conversations can really only be held with strangers. We all need to talk about metaphysics, but those who know us well want details and specifics; strangers allow us to operate more vaguely on a cosmic scale. When the talk occurs between two people who could plausibly have sex together, it gathers a special charge: you can only say "I feel like I've known you for years" to someone you have not known for years. Funny, how your spouse doesn't understand the bittersweet transience of life as well as a stranger encountered in a hotel bar. Especially if drinking is involved.

Murray plays Bob Harris, an American movie star in Japan to make commercials for whiskey. "Do I need to worry about you, Bob?" his wife asks over the phone. "Only if you want to," he says. She sends him urgent faxes about fabric samples. Johansson plays Charlotte, whose husband John is a photographer on assignment in Tokyo. She visits a shrine and then calls a friend in America to say, "I didn't feel anything." Then she blurts out: "I don't know who I married." She's in her early 20s, Bob's in his 50s. This is the classic set-up for a May-November romance, since in the mathematics of celebrity intergenerational dating you can take five years off the man's age for every million dollars of income. But "Lost in Translation" is too smart and thoughtful to be the kind of movie where they go to bed and we're supposed to accept that as the answer. Sofia Coppola, who wrote and directed, doesn't let them off the hook that easily.


Here are more some reviews, interviews-
http://movies.about.com/cs/lostintranslation/a/lostsofia.htm
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/fall2003/features/tokyo_story.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/12/12/lost_in_translation_2004_review.shtml
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7943-954924,00.html

Official Site-
http://www.lost-in-translation.com/

Answer 2

I watched it for the first time last night and had a big smile on my face at the end of it.
Perhaps I see a lot of myself in the character played by Bill Murray.
This is about friendship. Close friendship. I've had a few of those, and onlookers think there is more going on, but there isn't. There is a doulbe meaning to "Lost in translation".
Some might of expected them to get together at the end. That's what most movies tend to show. Perhaps that could be the "Lost in translation" for you.
The best bit for me was the whispering in the ear at the end. A stroke of genius.
This is a rare love. A deep love of friendship. Someone you can share everything with but are not romantically involved with. There's so much trust in that.
They were true to their trust to the end because they were both married and loved their spouses.
Oooh it's difficult to put it into words but I hope you get the idea.
I have friendships like this. I love them dearly but would never entertain a relationship with them.
I whispered in someones ear when I moved away from an area once. That's why I loved that bit.
This probably doesn't help at all does it :)

Answer 3

I love this movie and know not to expect belly laughs even though it stars Bill Murray. There was some suggestion that as much as 'Lost in Translation' was to be seen as a comedy the writer/director Sophia Coppola's own emotional difficulties, due to her marriage separation, at the time reflected in the tenderness in the script.

Murray is unforgettable in the whisky advert routine which he ad libbed brilliantly. The cool soundtrack, the idea that friends can be made in isolation and the Casablanca moment at the end all deserve further visits to heal any misunderstandings. You're worth it...as Scarlett now says.

Answer 4

You are just like me!! That's exactly what i said to my boyfriend last night after we watched it for the second time. I only watched it a 2nd time because I did not get it the first time. It is so dull and boring and I just didn't understand what it was about or why anyone would make a film about it. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

I did not know why boyfriend called it his favourite film until I found out later he likes Scarlett Johansson! I feel like such a mug! It all makes sense now....

Answer 5

I agree with something someone noted before me: you either love it or you don't.

I thought it was a beautifully made film, that the acting was great, that the script was good, that the story was bittersweet and beautiful, and yet...I didn't like the film. I watched it three or four times to see if it grew on me, and it didn't. I was surprised, because it seemed like the kind of film I would really like, but it just didn't do it for me.

So no, I don't think you're missing something. I think it's just one of those films that either grabs you or doesn't. Isn't all art that way?

Answer 6

Sofia is really a town that inspire you, is really a town that produce you want to visit just how you might find with hotelbye . One of the numerous places that Sofia has to offer through his tourists is Saint George Rotunda church. Also, The Memorial Church Saint Alexander Nevsky is one of the city's most familiar symbols. This church was integrated 1912, and was made by the Russian architect Alexander Pomerantsev. Its bell tower rises to a top of 53 meters, and properties 53 bells, the biggest weighing 10 tons. In Sofia you will see several crucial and wonderful church and cathedral and those gives that city a particular point that makes the tourist want to came here.

Answer 7

I was the same, went to see it at the cinema when it came out, and for the 1st time ever I actually wanted to walk out of a movie. Decided to give it another go last night, being older and *ahem* wiser since the last time I saw it, but gave up after 15mins...... I think it's the lack of obvious storyline that bores me. I like such a wide variety of movies, but fail to love this one like the critics did.

Answer 8

You have kinda missed the point- it is purposefully dull to reflect how dull and superficial everyday life is, and the point of the film is it shows even tho life can b really depressing at times just meeting someone can bring a spark back to ur life and change everything. Its a great film

Answer 9

I watched this film once and i was looking forward to it cause of all the reviews but like you I thought it was very slow and just did not get what all the fuss was about at all. Maybe its for a selected audience

Answer 10

This is a great movie for "the right type of person",I thought this movie was great, its appeal for me is more the...mmm, how to say, the casualness of the goings on. like ho hum just hanging at some guys joint singing Kareoke. But there is a lot more to it than that. I am not really a Bill M fan but I really enjoyed it.

For me, it has the same apeall as 'Before sunrise' or 'Before sunset' with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.

Try watching those...see how you go