Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Riane Capalad
A delight touch of aphrodisiac lights in Tokyo take you to an exciting fortress of solitude as Sophia Coppola specifically set the locations in the busy aesthetic city in Japan. Lost in Translation has been nominated for four academy awards and won Best Original Screenplay- for Coppola, she immediately idolizes and ponder Tokyo as the right setting for her cinematic imagination of a place where is known but nowhere to be found.
Lost in Translation who is played by two talented stars of different generations (Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson) flawlessly meet the expectations of an “on-the-sly-yet-liberal” love affair. Bob Harris (Murray), who is struggling with mid-life crisis, is an American actor, who lands in Tokyo to film his whiskey advertisement. On the other hand, Charlotte (Johansson), a young college graduate; is married to a celebrity photographer which she’s unsure of having much of a future with, finds Bob in a hotel they both reside in during their stay in the city.
With both perspectives’ given explanation, Director Coppola leaves viewers expecting an intimate scenario that were never bound to continue as she tries to capture the character’s fondness together in a slow mannered way. It is quite a film that translated emotions even when one self is lost giving the clarity it deserves.
An open ended is the best cliff hanger when both discretely whispers as Bob departs. Creating curiosity of what could’ve happened; anticipation of a new wave relationship, a sex scene, leaving each other’s family, or perhaps just living lives separately. Life goes on doesn’t it?
How did I start becoming a film geek?
“A great film is when it reaches you. It’s direct with no pretentions, no bullshits. Just life.”
I vividly remember those definitive artistic utters of my classmates back in college where indie films were being justified on the table in front of our pop-culture professor. We would sometimes skip classes (love you mom and dad) just to watch films and analyze whatever we thought had meaning, even though it probably was just as hypothetical as it seemed.
Influential director like Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, Greta Gerwig, and many more have been brought up to existence on my knowledge. I find them very intriguing. Then I started writing film reviews in 2016 for my personal satisfaction and only shared it to some people I felt comfortable sharing with.
A close friend of mine once told me that cohesive narrative plays an important role in appreciating films. At first, I really didn’t understand how to distinguished a great film from a not so good one. The expressive approach in storytelling is straight to the point without hesitation which gives an open understanding between the author’s purpose and the reader’s interpretation.
I actually asked him why. “A great film is when it reaches you. It’s direct with no pretentions, no bullshits. Just life.” he says.
There’s no life without films and vice versa. These visual narratives are our own vague reality in the past, present, and future. I might be right or wrong with my explanations and assumptions of my writings, however, I do hope films will make us more aware in comprehending life compassionately without judgments.
Check out one of my reviews Here’s Why Lady Bird Considers Her Tempered Mother “Warm” featured at https://www.alike.com.ph/
Follow Riane Capalad and all her amazing writings on hungrynotebookri.com/blog-1 and on Instagram@rianecapalad