Navigating the Global, Lost in Translation
Extension 1.
Lost in Translation.
Directed by Sophia Coppola in the form of a comic melodrama, Lost In Translation pursue’s a view that until recently, had been left unanswered in many films alike, however Lost In Translation takes a different pathway, apprehending the viewers attention via a clandestine interpretation of love.
Bob (Bill Murray), the protagonist of Lost In Translation appears to be of a quite tedious nature at first. His film career has passed him by with his last major film being produced in the seventies, and he finds himself disorientated as he is surrounded by the Japanese who are captivated by his era of fame. He is paid to represent and advertise a Japanese whiskey that he doesn’t even like, and he sees the real holes in his career as he models for the whiskey with a glass of iced tea, showing how feigned everyday representations can be. He lives his life flying in and out under his agents instructions to provide for his family from which he is conspicuously disconnected, his wife sending him faxes (which alone highlights the aspects of globalisation that the film attempts to project) with updates that read more like journal entries than messages to one’s significant life partner.
Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) however, a young woman recently married is becoming detached from her new husband John (Giovanna Ribisi) who dragged her with him to Japan on a business trip. As he leaves daily to further his career as a photographer, he seems to un-involve himself in their marriage, not treating her with the importance and priority she was promised at the altar, and essentially rejecting her. She begins to question her life, resorting to self-help CDs in an attempt to gain control and perspective into her life in the fishbowl-like hotel room she confines herself to.
The film opens with a close up of Charlotte’s backside, before progressing to an empathic view of Bob Harris inside a cab driving through the streets of Tokyo at night,
Lost in Translation.
Directed by Sophia Coppola in the form of a comic melodrama, Lost In Translation pursue’s a view that until recently, had been left unanswered in many films alike, however Lost In Translation takes a different pathway, apprehending the viewers attention via a clandestine interpretation of love.
Bob (Bill Murray), the protagonist of Lost In Translation appears to be of a quite tedious nature at first. His film career has passed him by with his last major film being produced in the seventies, and he finds himself disorientated as he is surrounded by the Japanese who are captivated by his era of fame. He is paid to represent and advertise a Japanese whiskey that he doesn’t even like, and he sees the real holes in his career as he models for the whiskey with a glass of iced tea, showing how feigned everyday representations can be. He lives his life flying in and out under his agents instructions to provide for his family from which he is conspicuously disconnected, his wife sending him faxes (which alone highlights the aspects of globalisation that the film attempts to project) with updates that read more like journal entries than messages to one’s significant life partner.
Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) however, a young woman recently married is becoming detached from her new husband John (Giovanna Ribisi) who dragged her with him to Japan on a business trip. As he leaves daily to further his career as a photographer, he seems to un-involve himself in their marriage, not treating her with the importance and priority she was promised at the altar, and essentially rejecting her. She begins to question her life, resorting to self-help CDs in an attempt to gain control and perspective into her life in the fishbowl-like hotel room she confines herself to.
The film opens with a close up of Charlotte’s backside, before progressing to an empathic view of Bob Harris inside a cab driving through the streets of Tokyo at night,