Lost in Translation

This is quite a sensitive and delicate movie. The story is that of the romance between a middle-aged man, Bill Murray, and a young married woman, Scarlet Johansson. It is unique in that it is unlike other love stories; the couple only kisses each other a few times. But this is not a platonic love. The main theme of the story is whether or not sexual relationships between middle-aged men and beautiful young married women are possible. Many of the scenes are sexually suggestive, but decent. They contribute to the movie’s mysterious ending.

The title, Lost in Translation, is quite appropriate. Both of the main characters seem to be tired and lost at this stage of their lives. As they are feeling cut off and lonely in an unfamiliar big city, they meet and gradually become more intimate with each other.

Actually, the main characters were lost in translation as strangers in a different culture. Bill, a famous American actor whose career is going downhill, has come to Japan to appear in a Japanese commercial. During the shooting of the commercial, the Japanese director shouts and gives many instructions to Bill in Japanese and strange English. He makes comments like this: Hey! Hey! Hey! More passion! More gorgeous, more elegant! Please! Please, please! More rich and more and more!? Unfortunately for the director, Bill is at a complete loss.  

There is another example in the movie of this sense of being lost in translation. Scarlet injures her toes, so she and Bill go to a hospital. They are given assistance and the results of Starlet’s diagnosis. But the Japanese used only Japanese as if Bill and Scarlet were Japanese. It seemed that they did not care whether or not they were foreigners. I also fine similar scenes at video rental shops. The clerks use only Japanese to explain things to non-Japanese customers. The explanations they give to non-Japanese customers are exactly the same as those given to Japanese customers. The foreigners sometimes nod embarrassingly, but they seem not to have been able to understand any of the Japanese. It’s really amazing that they could succeed in becoming members and rent videos!

One more impressive episode is that of when Scarlet asked Bill why Japanese can’t pronounce L and R accurately. Actually, there was another funny episode involving the words rip and lip. A Japanese prostitute, who suddenly visited Bill’s hotel room, said to Bill, I’m a gift for you from your Japanese agent. Now, lip me my stocking. Come on! Lip! Lip! Lip me!!? Bill was wondering, Lip? What? Why?? Actually, she should have said? rip!. So, Bill responded to her question. The film’s writers must be making fun of Japanese. They must enjoy this. Oh, I should not reveal more details. I won’t tell many things to you if you haven’t seen it.

There are a lot of typical Japanese street scenes. I thought these scenes are typical of what foreigners see. After seeing the movie, I was hovering around like a stranger in the neon-glittering downtown of Fukuoka, which is one of Japan’s big cities. Like Tokyo, the city was also very noisy and glaring. I had the feeling of crowded solitude, but I didn’t dislike.