Lost In Translation

365 Films

Entry #122

Lost In Translation (2003)

Directed by Sofia Coppola

If I remember correctly, the trailer tagline for Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation was something like, “sometimes you have to travel half way around the world to find yourself.”  That kind of hallmark card sloganeering has no place in Coppola’s contemplative and atmospheric presentation of love and loneliness in modern day Tokyo.  Instead of trying to capture life as it is in this gleaming metropolis, Coppola wisely avoids any accusations of carpetbagging and fully invests in the point of view of a tourist.  I’m not sure if this is the proper segue-way but I noticed in re-watching Translation that Coppola doesn’t really make movies as much as she does fashion spreads.  Now before you start sharpening those knives, I think this is what makes Coppola such a unique voice in filmmaking today.  Her films all seem to be set around a certain kind of pose and what makes her brilliant is her ability to break down those poses to their most basic components and watch with her compassionate eye as the characters attempt to reconstruct the pieces again.  It goes without saying that fashion spreads are often beautifully photographed so I don’t really feel there is any shame in adhering to that particular visual aesthetic.  I also noticed in this viewing that so much of Translation takes places suspended in mid-air by way of the sky-scraping buildings that populate Tokyo.  Whenever possible Coppola and DP Lance Accord frame the characters against giant windows that could double as panorama’s of the city itself and we are constantly reminded of the distance between a body and the ground below.  It’s a fascinating technique for shooting the transitional moments of life when it slowly thaws and forward progress begins to assert itself.  These characters are all dangling ever so delicately above this seething indifferent mass of a labyrinth below them, as if a stiff breeze could send them hurtling towards the earth.  This is what I mean when I chided the marketing campaign for the film at the top of the entry, this is a film about some dark themes spoken in whisper.  Coppola is never crass enough to have her characters constantly remind us about their internal suffering, so we get a collection of moods, gestures, and expressions that are indelibly imprinted from fame one.  What’s so astonishing about the film (and I say that only because I would definitely rank it at the bottom of Coppola’s astonishing filmography) is how so many of its moments and images have become iconic for me.  Murray’s karaoke rendition of Peace, Love, and Understanding springs immediately to mind, along with the shot of Johansson in the pink wig gently resting her head on Murray’s shoulders.  These are moments that for whatever reason with me will remain timeless in expressing that which all filmmakers crave: the feeling of being alive.  Lost in Translation is a miniature epic, incapable of being summed up by a sentence and always revealing itself in beautiful and mysterious ways upon every subsequent viewing.  And as we will see in future entries, Sofia Coppola just keeps getting better and better.