Lost in Translation is a story in which two American people, discontented with their privileged life, meet and fall in love ―well, kind of― while on holiday at one of the most luxurious hotels in Tokyo. Okay, that was a slightly mean rendition of the film, if not entirely distorted.
The two American people are Bob Harris and Charlotte, the former a famous middle-aged actor visiting Tokyo incognito for the shooting of some Japanese beverage ad to escape from prison called family life and the latter a Yale graduate neglected by her husband based in Japan whom she has been married to for two years. They are both stuck in life, uncertain. Strangely enough, everyday conversation with their loved ones bears little more meaning than the barely intelligible translation by the ‘professional’ interpreter who is supposed to help Bob or the chanting heard in one of the Buddhist temples Charlotte visits. You know that moment when you pause to ask yourself that much dreaded question, ‘What is my life?’ We have all been there in some way or other. Suddenly you are lost in the maze of life —end of story.
No, the story does not end there, not quite. In their shared loneliness, they get to know each other and have rendezvous in the sleepless city where everyone seems to be living for the spark of the moment. Who knows what happens next?
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I am sorry to say that I am a bit disappointed in this film. I was watching a ‘my top 10 favourite films’ kind of video by some Youtuber the other day, when I was introduced to Lost in Translation. It seemed to be given quite high ratings in major movie reviewing platforms. Naturally, my expectations were high. The representation of Tokyo in this film seems somewhat controversial among the Japanese audience, with some saying it being not real whatever that ‘real’ means. To be honest, I was not comfortable either, if not offended, seeing how Japan is portrayed in this film even though the stereotypical portrait might have been intentional to some degree. The L/R joke in the ‘lip’ scene I found quite bad in taste. It seems to be a big hit with some ‘gaijin’ reviewers though. But then, there is no point in making such criticism; one has to accept the fact that this is just one version of Tokyo translated in the language of Sofia Coppla.
I am afraid I have another complaint to make though, about the characterisation of Charlotte, which felt a bit simplistic. Her majoring in Philosophy does not translate into a mysterious thoughtful young woman straightaway although she seems supposed to be so. I do not like how that aspect of her character is exploited in the film. I would not think there is much that bears witness to such qualities in what she does, as attractive as her looks are. Am I being too harsh?
I have mixed feelings about this kind of ‘mood’ films in the first place, in which not much happens that drastically changes the tide of the story. I do think letting myself float in that quiet mood is a brilliant idea. On the other hand, it makes me feel I am meant to extract some profound meaning from the nothingness, which I always fail to do, and I have to face my lack of insight. It is particularly disheartening when there are many good reviewers out there who are so adept at translating this film into something appealing that they almost make me want to see it again.
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Enough about my complaints though. I am aware my criticism is rather unfair. Let the talented director have the credit that she deserves then. This film does carry some truth about what it is like being transplanted in a completely foreign country. The lonely and exciting feeling of being exposed to the unfamiliar should certainly be familiar to those who have been to another country. The beauty of it is that it allows you to become nobody. You become momentarily alienated, unrooted, free from the things that has long comprised your identity, for which Tokyo could not be a more suitable place. The city is full of such ‘nobody’ people and filled with odd things unfamiliar even to Japanese people. Anything can happen under the spell of such a foreign country. Of course, that partly helps develop the romance between Bob and Charlotte, which otherwise would not happen—I have to remind you they might have been a father and a daughter in terms of age gap—.
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I understand why this has enjoyed great popularity with the non-Asian audience. I would have enjoyed a film set in some exotic country, in which the ‘real’ life of the people there is shown with some mood music. We all crave for something real, do we not?