Lost in Translation Analysis

 Lost in Translation

Written & Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Won Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2003

An American actor, Bob lands up in Tokyo for a shoot, and he feels estranged due to the cultural differences. It's also because he has a sense of entitlement in him, and nothing seems to impress him, and he doesn't wants to put efforts to empathise and understand the cultural differences. I'm not judging him, it's understandable for the stage of life he is at, for the kind of fame and money he'd have seen and the character is presented with a lot of honesty. His deadpan expression works wonders in this film, I laughed out loud at a lot of moments. The film's portrayal of Asians might seem racist, but it's a view of the characters and the way they look at the cultural differences, and the comical portrayal of over excitement and the deadpan reaction of Bob is a celebration of the culture of introverts. After this film, Bill Murray killed the deadpan look in Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmusch, which too was so funny.

He meets a young American woman there and the only reason he probably talks to her is because she is American and he feels like they could bond over the cultural alienation, but they end up bonding over the void they both feel in their lives. It's a story of friendship, if you look at it in a certain way but because they both get emotionally vulnerable and talk about their personal lives in such proximity - they tend to get feelings for each other. The intimacy is captured through the sound of their breath when they are around each other, rather than dialogue - there is space for the characters to breath in between their lines and truly be in the moment. I loved this film because it talks about loneliness, existentialism in a lighter note, I thought only Woody Allen could do that - but this film in spite of it being light, it brilliantly captures intimate moments too. And I think films like these can only be written if you've had similar experiences, at least the germ of the idea could only come from a life experience like that.