Doing the DVD rental thing: Lost in Translation

It sure had a lot of hype last year. People were raving about it. Sofia Coppola nabbed an Oscar for her screenplay.

Did you see the film?

I finally got around to seeing it on DVD.

I'd give it 3 stars out of 4.

Some of the ethnic stereotyping was a little tiresome. But other than that, I was intrigued by the film.

The sound of the film is mesmerizing; the sounds of the city and the pulsating music score. There is also the karoake and lounge singers setting the emotional contours of scenes. Try watching the film with the close captioning ON -- it helped make the film so enjoyable for me. The music playing in the background isn't just for mood but the very lyrics of the songs are integral parts of the scene. Astute viewers can catch it without the captions but they helped me.

As I watched, I wondered how is Sofia getting away with a movie with so LITTLE dialog. It is easy when you have songs that say what you want the audience to know about the characters. Also credit Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson for being terrific non-verbal communicators.

Coppola and her team have provided a visual and aural gem that evokes that discombobulated feeling any one has in a crowded big city. That feeling is magnified when you don't understand the language and culture. I've been a tourist and that "stranger in a strange land" feeling is at once alluring and intimidating.

Coppola has followed the adage about dialog that sometimes less is better. There are longish scenes where you follow Johansson or Murray around their solitary lives wordlessly that so sharply highlights their existential loneliness. The jet lagged sleepless nights for the two characters are just the physical manifestations of their emotional restlessness.

The characters are there for different reasons and fate puts them in each other's orbits and eventually they talk and connect. If you check out this quotes page you won't find any long monologues and in fact it contains much of the dialog in the movie!

Here is an example of the dialog:

Charlotte: I just don't know what I'm supposed to be.
Bob: You'll figure that out. The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.

Sparse but effective.

On a personal note, you know you are "getting old" when you find your self relating to Murray's character in this movie! When I heard that line, I just smiled. I've said variants of that to younger people in my life.

Murray's Bob Harris character settles into his role as the person Charlotte can confide in because he has seen and experienced all she wonders and fears about her future. Likewise, Johansson's Charlotte listens to his regrets but also provides a youthful spirit of adventure to rekindle the spark of life in Harris. Thus, this unlikely pair provide for each other exactly what they need at this season of their life.

A strong connection between the two develop but the circumstances of their lives cannot be escaped.

Coppola's screenplay brings these two people together in a setting that will assure they have to part. She took us along for the ride with these two but now she has to take them away from each other and from us. I'd be really curious to know how much of the finale was Coppola's ideas and how much was improvised as Johansson and Murray worked the scenes together?

We are treated to one final good-bye when they embrace amidst a crowd of people on a noisy busy street and our odd couple share a few words we aren't allowed to hear. Whatever was said transforms their sadness into a bitter-sweet sadness that allows them both to go on back to their lives a bit better off than when we first met them.

What would you have said?