Lost in Translation is My Favorite Movie
Out of the thousands of movies I’ve watched, Lost in Translation is my favorite movie. A movie that connects with me so deeply it's as though it's peering into my soul.
It’s about two Americans, Charlotte, a young female graduate, and Bob, an older actor. Bob feels alienated from his family and career. Charlotte feels directionless and disconnected from her husband. They’re both in Japan and stumble upon each. They hang out and form a connection. It’s not a romance, but a friendship.
Why is Lost in Translation my favorite movie? Because it feels like it’s the movie that has best represented my soul. The way I think, the way I feel, the problems I’ve faced, the jokes I’ve made, the way I act in certain situations, the exact moods I’ve been in.
The mood of being lost, in a soft depression, yet still finding a few moments of humor and levity in life, is captured so remarkably. There's scenes of Bob sitting up on the side of his bed staring blankly, or him quietly eating a meal by himself in an isolated table. There's Charlotte listening to a self-help audio book, or inquisitively walking around a Buddhist shrine.
These are juxtaposed with Bob awkwardly bending down because the shower head in a Japanese hotel won't go up high enough. A director wanting Bob to act more like the Roger Moore James Bond, not Sean Connery. There's Charlotte's smirk and forced chuckle when a female actress makes a cringy comment about having body odor and Charlotte's boyfriend going along by playfully holding his nose.
Then there's Bob rather inappropriately playfully pulling down a female's strap off her shoulders in a party, eventually cheats on his wife by sleeping with a singer, yet looking disgusted when he sees a stripper in a club dancing.
All these jokes and moments are presented in an understated, undramatic manner. Yet pay attention, and you realise every scene, action, characterisation and nuance of emotion, is so unique and well thought out.
It's clear writer and director Sofia Coppola created this film as an honest portrayal of how she herself experienced life, not anyone else's. She captured her exact feeling and mood, just with a character's fictional actions and words.
And I've probably experienced life similar to her. There are some movies you feel were made in this world just for you. It's aching how accurately this movie depicts how I perceive life. Someone has experienced the world the same way I have. I am not alone, we are not alone. We are never alone.
Of course we have to talk about the movie's ending. I have never reacted that strongly to a movie, the ending always leaves me gasping in tears. Bob is done with his work in Japan, and is going back to America. He says goodbye to Charlotte in the hotel lobby and is driven away. A few minutes later, out of the window of the car, he sees Charlotte walking along a street. He tells the driver to stop, walks out of the car and hugs and kisses Charlotte. He whispers something into Charlotte's ear, they both smile at each other, and finally Bob walks back to the car and drives away.
It turns the scene of both of them leaving each other, from a moment of feeling sad that their relationship has ended, into a moment of appreciation that the relationship happened. It reminds us that when we feel lost and alienated, by the grace of God there'll be people you stumble upon, whether for your entire life or just a few moments, that offers you the attention and comfort you deserve. Cinema doesn't get any better than this. Breathtaking. Remarkable.