Lost in Translation was directed and written by Sofia Coppola, a woman with a keen eye for artistic detail. The film is deliberately slow development and provokes a strong delayed reaction, causing one to recall every detail of the film months later. Watching it feels like going through an exclusive art collection at a well hidden museum. It is a rare pleasure and something to be savored.
The beginning of the film resembles a reality show set in Japan, and unfolds with a leisurely pace around Bob (Bill Murray). Bob is a moss eaten celebrity, almost forgotten in America, but still popular in Japan, where he manages to make 2 million dollars by posing for ads.
Bob is not handsome but gallantly aged, like the liquor he is advertising. Cynical and grumpy, Bob looks exhausted, yet holds enough charisma to drive a 25 year old girl into a frenzy. I doubt any other actor could play this character quite as well as Murray, who shines in this film.
Coppola perfectly portrayed the arrival of Murray into Japan. He is tired and sleepy, yet amazed to see the colorful world around him. In the next few days the exciting world of Tokyo seizes to amaze his exhausted brain receptors. Anyone who has taken a flight to a foreign country will relate to having a jetlag and feeling restless. Lack of sleep is particularly annoying when one does not understand what is going on due to the language barrier.
Charlotte (Johansson) is another insomniac. She cannot sleep not because she is restless in a foreign country but because she is lost in a relationship with her husband. She has been married for two years and finally realizes that she has nothing in common with her husband.
Things get somewhat confusing when Bob and Charlotte meet. They would have never clicked under the ordinary circumstances, but in Japan, they are united by boredom in finding everything strange: people, surroundings, customs, language, etc. Strange things are bound to happen when one is sleep deprived, depressed and lonely in a foreign land. In such situations, people do find companionship in unlikely places.
Bob and Charlotte quickly become friends and engage in conversations ordinary people would not partake. Coppola follows them closely, with slow precision camera work behind every touch, sound, and look. Every notion is carefully reflected on the screen, following a natural progression of friendship into a romance, which inevitably ends with Charlotte's departure.
The ending leaves us with a small enigma.
What did Bob say to Charlotte?
This is open to individual interpretation.
Most people will be able to find a little bit of themselves in this film. Or at least imagine themselves in a similar situation. Those who don't relate can simply enjoy the beautiful imagery.
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