found in translation

warning: the following is about a movie that you may not have seen. thats ok. you should still read it, I think. do what you want though.

you know how sometimes you finish a movie and you are left strangely unfullfilled. like it just didnt fill you with anything. you probably laughed about twice, but it was the forced kind of laugh where you feel like kind of an idiot afterwards. there was no excitement or sexy naked beautiful people or secret endings or 'where they are nows' during the credits. yeah, we all know those movies.

part of me hates these movies and part of me feels strangely validated for having the attention span to endure 2 hours of seemingly nothing redeeming. maybe you know what I mean, but its ok if you dont.

Lost in Translation seems to be a case in point of this type of movie. one paragraph synopsis follows:

bill murray is an old american movie star stuck in hong kong shooting a ridiculous liquor commercial. like for something along the lines of Glenlivet, some kind of liquor that is for the superclassy james bond types (more roger moore than sean connery though).

scarlet johannsen is a young woman traveling in hong kong with her photographer boyfriend who works about 23 hours a day. she is some kind of ivy league liberal arts graduate who is very sophisticated but she knows she is sophisticated and it is slightly annoying. she is uniquely attractive (see exhibit a).

exhibit a

he is away from his wife/family and his real work. she is away from her 23-hour-working boyfriend (except for 1 hour of sleeping) and she is a liberal arts grad, so she doesnt have a real job to begin with (oooooh rip). furthermore, they are both away from all of their normal activities and their culture and everything else that is familiar.

so to cut to the chase, these two people are stuck in hong kong (which is made to look like times square on fast forward) and they are basically stripped naked of everything that usually defines them. stripped naked, yes.

so it seems that they are without anything of the things that they usually define themselves by, and they are left with only themselves, all they have is who they are.

all they have is who they are.

that is a profound thought, now that I see it typed in words, you know. it seems like a pretty legitimately scary idea. I dare you to stop and think about that one for a second. yes, I know, thinking hurts, it hurts for me too.

take that a step further--who is anyone? ok, I will stop now.

ok so these two people are in hong kong and all they have is who they are. they dont fit together, they dont look good together (bill murray is all old and pock-marked and depressed looking), but they are both stuck in this same situation and a few traded glances over a deserted bar lead to a some random experiences in hong kong together.

bill murray wears an orange camo t-shirt turned inside out, which I really like.

so I think the idea is that these two people are forced to find out who they are underneath everything that they usually define themselves by. they are, in fact, found in translation.

boom, thats hardhitting artistic film analysis for you.

if that sounds anticlimactic, its because it is. there is no climax. except for when he chases her down and kisses her, but that is not really a climax, because there is nothing more than that, no allusion to any kind of future association or no profound statements or anything. just the acknowledgement of a shared existensial experience.

that makes me want to have a shared existensial experience. any takers?

enough. I am really killing myself here. go see the movie if you want to know more.

[PS- I just realized that I totally ruined the ending. you should still see it though.]