Saturday, 26 January 2013

Day 26: Lost In Translation



You know when you’re having a bad day and you just want to watch a film with Scarlett Johansson in it because you know it’s going to make you feel better regardless of how shallow and potentially creepy that might be? But you’ve lost your copy of Lost In Translation and for some reason it’s not on Netflix anymore? But then you check SkyGo and it’s available but you have to pay for it? And you decide you’ll pay for it anyway because your day is just so bad? Yeah.

Bob (Bill Murray) is an ageing film star who is in Tokyo starring in an advert when he meets Charlotte, who is accompanying her husband on a photo shoot. Both are dissatisfied with how their lives are and both are questioning how the future will turn out.

Charlotte is clearly unhappy; her husband is busy and seems to be rushing off from her in any chance he can get (mad man!) while she is left to amuse herself. Which she seems alright with some of the time as she does stumble across interesting things while exploring. But mostly she just seems sad. She phones her friend in an attempt to connect but her friend doesn’t have the time for her and she’s left again. She’s not sure what she wants to be in life and says she feels stuck.

Bob’s marriage and his fading from film are the main problems for him. Clearly he is only starring in this advert because he has no other opportunities; you can see he is massively uncomfortable at every point when trying to shoot it. His wife doesn’t seem to care about him anymore (judging from their phone calls) and it sounds like they don’t know how to talk to each other. He says that in the beginning they used to have fun together, which he is now re-experiencing with Charlotte.

They both have trouble sleeping and so spend time together. A pattern I’ve been noticing is that I seem to like when people just enjoying being with each other. They don’t have to be doing anything particularly fantastic, they just feel comfortable and content in the moment that they are together. Oh, I also appear to love how people look at each other. Charlotte’s face instantly warms when she spots Bob and he always looks so much more relaxed when he sees her. They spend a lot of time just looking at the other and so obviously I was pleased. Towards the end they are lying in the same bed and through talking they seem to be able to get the sleep that they couldn’t get alone.

It’s time for him to leave and they both don’t want it to happen. They say bye but it’s not really how either of them wanted it and you can see he’s disappointed. On the way to the airport he spots her walking in a crowd and he jumps out of the car to catch up with her. He whispers something to her and they kiss. Then they go their separate ways and they’ll probably never see each other again but they’ve got the memory of the time they spent together and they’re both a little different as a result.

8/10

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