Sofia Coppola is arguably one of the best directors out there. Her ingenuity and creativity captured my imagination at the age of fourteen when Lost In Translation came out. This film is my favorite film of all time. The poignant silence and colorful, dynamic images carry the film forward making it worthy of all the Golden Globes and Oscar nominations it received.
The film is about Charlotte, a woman in her mid-twenties who’s recently graduated from Yale. She is in Tokyo with her photographer husband who is very absorbed in his work and doesn’t have time for her. In this sense she is alone. The other main character of Lost in Translation is Bob Harris played by Bill Murray. Bob is an aging actor who is in Tokyo doing a whisky commercial instead of “doing a play somewhere.” After twenty-five years of marriage, the relationship with his wife seems to be more business, almost as if she were his assistant. Once Bob and Charlotte meet, they start spending time with one another. He provides the wisdom that comes with age and she shows Bob that one can still enjoy life no matter how old.
The opening sequence sets up the audience for a film about vulnerability and tapping into the inner minds of characters lost in foreign nation. Japan is one of the cities in the world where there is always something to do but by not knowing their place in the universe, the characters cannot enjoy their time there. This aspect of the film gives it its sadness but there’s also a romantic feel to it.
The opening sequence begins with a close up of Scarlett Johansson’s butt in lacey pink underwear. A painting Sophia Coppola liked inspired this shot. The artist John Kacere is a famous photorealist photographer who takes pictures of women’s bottoms in their underwear. This image sets up the feeling Sofia Coppola and the director of photography wanted to convey. The entire film of Lost in Translation is meant to be a snapshot of Tokyo. The first snapshot of this film is Scarlett Johansson’s bottom.
After this shot , the title sequence appears and there is a pause. After a few seconds the screen goes dark and there is a transition. All that is heard is a voiceover welcoming someone or perhaps even the audience to Tokyo. To me this transition adds to the dream quality of the film. First, the film opens with someone laying on their side on a bed. The screen goes black and an unknown voice welcomes the audience to a new land. Bill Murray is then seen sleeping in his car.
The song Girls by the band Death in Vegas picks up slowly. The harmonizing is symbolic of jet lag. It slowly gets louder and louder as Bill Murray’s character awakens. There is a close up on his face.When Bill Murray wakes up and looks around, the combination with the music makes it seems like he is waking up in a dream. The exterior shot of the car has the background blurred as though he isn’t fully conscious yet.
The rest of the soundtrack is similar to this song. Without many lyrics it moves the soul, producing a calming effect within the listener.The music "nails the hazy conscious state of actors Bill Murray" and Scarlet Johansson. It also provides a safe, warm soundtrack that coddles the listeners, almost as if saying traveling alone is not as bad as it seems. The soundtrack is made of mostly indie rocks. However the thing about the soundtrack that reflects the film in it''s entirety is the use of songs without lyrics. The film is in essence a silent film.
Once his eyes are fully open, an establishing shot if the Shibuya district appears on the screen. The neon signs and bright colors are a contrast from the complete darkness the audience was in during the transition. One goes from being welcomed to actually being in Tokyo. The Shibuya district is known as the entertainment district. The irony of this being the first place we see in Tokyo is that Bob Harris is not interested in being there. He's in a rut in his life where nothing seems to matter, he appears surprised but not amused.
The details on the buildings become point of view shots. Bill Murray’s character, Bob is looking around. Everything is obviously in Japanese and it creates a disorienting feeling, the audience is on this journey with him. The zooming in of the background is appealing to the eye. It not only establishes the location but it also sets a mood. The mood of one person visiting a large city is overwhelming.
The camera pans back and forth showing all the people walking around at night. At that moment it seems that things seem to slow down. This is the realization that this place is very different from America because of the people and the way . A McDonald’s is present in the background, a golden “m” that is recognizable throughout the entire world without any translation. The director of photography, Lance Acord, used a lightweight Aaton 35 camera to reproduce a nostalgic aesthetic similar to the snapshot, “like a memory and a love story” according to Coppola, to photograph the particular combination of traditional and western influences characteristic of contemporary Japanese culture (Coppola quoted in Mitchell).
The camera zooms in when Bob sees a billboard of himself. Although the film has been silent so far, except for the voice over saying we’re in Tokyo, this shot provided exposition. If Bob can be on a billboard it means he has a certain kind of status. Sticking to the formula for narrative strategies, the first sequence of the film acts as exposition. We get a sense of the male protagonist and even though we only saw a woman’s behind, the audience knows that a female presence will be around shortly. She is confined to a room while there’s an entire city waiting to be explored.
After seeing himself on the billboard Bob rubs his eyes. These prescient sequence fragments triple Bill Murray’s image separating the “public” Bob who exploits his fading star to sell whisky for three million American dollars, the “private” Bob who aspires to “good roles” and Bill Murray whose ironic, subversive screen persona threatens to destabilize the illusion. The next shot is almost epilepsy inducing, it is a neon sign of spirals that diminish in perspective. The colors of the seen are very vibrant; it’s a contrast to how Bob feels. The lighting comes off the buildings themselves so the first few shots in the car seem documentary like.
The opening sequence ends with a master shot of Bob’s car pulling into the front of a hotel. The picture below is a close up but the shot begins with a long shot. The hotel turns out to be one of the most exclusive one’s in Tokyo. However, even these people can afford to be here they don’t seem very happy. The class difference is apparent because those hanging out in dim lit sketchy bars appear to be very happy.
The way Sofia Coppola planned out the film was by taking series of photographs throughout Tokyo. Once she had evidence of what she wanted to visually recreated, she handed the images to the cast and crew. The photos she took were used as references throughout the twenty-seven day shoot.
Sofia made Lost in Translation as a tribute to Tokyo. She worked and visited many years, often with her father Francis Ford Coppola. The background and source material for the film is rumored to be about her life. Charlotte’s husband is a photographer, and Sofia used to be married to Spike Jonze. The obnoxious character Anna Farris plays in the film is suppose to stand for Cameron Diaz, even though this has never been confirmed. A lot about the film is personal to Sofia. Her real life friend “Charlie Brown” used to show her around Tokyo while her then husband worked (Sofia is now married to Phoenix front man Thomas Mars, who’s song “Too Young” plays in the film). Sofia thought it only appropriate to have Charlie Brown in her film. He was not only her guide but then becomes the guide to the audience. Later on in the film Shibuya is visited. Karaoke Bars, Restaurants and someone’s home are visited. As Bob’s interest in Tokyo grows, the audience sees more places.
This film provides reassurance for travelers. In two weeks I will be in Tokyo and the film had such an impact on the people there, there are actual tours where one can visit the exact places from the film. Visiting a fast paced city doesn’t necessarily mean that one will be thrill seeking all the time. The film shows the audience that there is a haunting quiet beauty to a place. A place as big as Tokyo can still be lonely. Sofia shared this feeling with the world.
