Finally a movie I am looking forward to....

[Guest]

Lost In Translation. It has been getting a lot of great press and reviews and I am almost on my way to see. Movies don't usually open in San Francisco the same day as they do in NY and LA and I was pretty sure we would have to wait for it to be released here, but it is showing in SF and we just have to see it this weekend. The movie stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson and is directed by Sofia Coppola.

[Canice]

Hope you'll come back with a review after you've seen it, Miranda! Did you hear that review on Morning Edition today? I wasn't paying much attention...all I came away with was "WOW, this guy really LOVED the movie!!" :o :rolleyes:

[Shirley Panek]

I've read some of the synopsis on this movie, and this looks like one I'd like to see as well. In fact, I was thinking to myself that I should set up the sitter so my DH and I can go see it. Unfortunately he's going to be out of town for 10 days starting next week, so it looks like it will have to wait until he gets back. :(

Let us know how you liked it!

[JHolcomb]

I cannot WAIT to see it. Love, love, love Murray and Johannsen. Am a little worried about Coppola (her debut effort wasn't so great), but with those two starring, I'm betting it will be awesome.

Of course, nothing ever comes to Raleigh when it opens. We're just now getting American Splendor (yay!!), which we're going to see this weekend.

[Canice]

OK, I read a review at lunch time. I expect I'll be seeing this one. Buuuuuut, a part of me is really, really tired of the "60-year-old man finally finds happiness when he meets a 20 year old girl" genre :( :mad: . Oops, no- she (well, the actress) is actually only 18. When I make my millions I'm going to commission a movie about an ordinary 50 year old man who falls desperately in love with an ordinary 50 year old woman and they live happily ever after.

(Sorry for the mini-rant. Next week I have my last-ever birthday of my 30s. Feeling a little sensitive?

[kristalsnow7]

I think this movie looks really great, too! I may see it this weekend.

I agree the 50 year old man/ 18 year old woman love affairs can be a little bit tiring. But from what I've heard about this movie, their relationship never moves into the romantic realm. More of a meeting of the minds. But, like I said, I haven't seen it. I could be wrong!

I'll be curious to hear any reviews.

(Oh, and a happy early birthday to you, Canice!)

[jennkristy]

DH and I plan to see this on Sunday. It has tremendous buzz.
I liked Coppola's work in "The Virgin Suicides", and I, too, love Murray and Scarlett Johannson. Did anyone see her in "Ghost World"? LOVED that movie. I believe she was also more recently in "The Man Who Wasn't There" with Billy Bob Thornton. She is darn good for being so young.

[jennkristy]

JHolcomb - We just saw "American Splendor" and really enjoyed it. They shot it in a unique format. I was especially anxious to see it because it was filmed and set in Cleveland, where I grew up and just moved away from. Hope you enjoy it.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Canice
Hope you'll come back with a review after you've seen it, Miranda! Did you hear that review on Morning Edition today? I wasn't paying much attention...all I came away with was "WOW, this guy really LOVED the movie!!" :o :rolleyes:

Yes I heard that one and later I am pretty sure I heard one on Fresh Air and the reviews in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NYTimes,the Chronicle and even the Contra Costa Times were all very good. Makes me wonder a little, but I think we are going to head into the Metreon later today. This will be only the second time I have seen a movie there. Big multiplexes are horrible in my book and I much prefer seeing movies the way they should be seen, in a nice single screen theatre. But those are hard to find and I just can't wait for it to come to my local, single screen theatre.

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by jennkristy
DH and I plan to see this on Sunday. It has tremendous buzz.
I liked Coppola's work in "The Virgin Suicides", and I, too, love Murray and Scarlett Johannson. Did anyone see her in "Ghost World"? LOVED that movie. I believe she was also more recently in "The Man Who Wasn't There" with Billy Bob Thornton. She is darn good for being so young.

Ghost World is my favorite movie . And she was also great in M.W.W.T.

[britneyelise]

Count me in as wanting to see this too. As for Ghost World, the character that Scarlett Johansen (splg?) played could have been me when I graduated high school! She is just awesome, and Bill Murray is the greatest. Can't wait to read y'alls reviews.

[Chiffonade]

Us too! Us too!! We live near Tampa and hope it comes here soon. Actually, there are a few interesting looking ones coming out. Also intriguing is Pieces of April about the cooking of a Thanksgiving Dinner. (I'm such a one-trick pony :rolleyes: ).

[Guest]

I saw it on Saturday and thought it was really good. In fact, I have been thinking about since then. The movie is set in Tokyo and it is a dazzling and dizzying picture of that city. I have never been there, but now I just want to see it. It seems both alluring and scary, with a kind of intensity I don't think any American or European city has. This movie is about all sorts of things - being totally lost and disoriented in Tokyo, feeling a sense of emptiness in life and love, and making an incredibly strong connection with another person quite unexpectedly. It certainly isn't a love story in the tradtional sense. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson don't run off together and live happily ever after, they don't run off together at all. This was a richly rewarding film - the first half was extraordinarily funny, the second more thoughtful, visually stunning, good music and the acting was great. I might just have to see it again.

[Guest]

Has anyone else seen this? Curious to know what other people think about it. We saw it again this weekend.

[Canice]

Not yet, though I'm definitely going to. My profound question for you is how long was the line?

[gertdog]

Originally posted by MWS
Has anyone else seen this? Curious to know what other people think about it. We saw it again this weekend.

I'm looking forward to seeing it and am glad to see your positive review- thanks for posting it!

[JHolcomb]

Still waiting on this one to make it to the cultural backwater that is Raleigh, NC. We FINALLY got American Splendor, which we saw on Friday night. It was un-freaking-believable. OMG, I love that movie so much. I told DH that I could seriously go to see it every single night that it's playing. I liked it that much. I can't even describe the one thing about it that I loved so much...it was just the whole damned thing.

[jennkristy]

MWS - I saw it recently and loved it. In fact, your succint description of it described my feelings exactly! Wonderfully stated. It was a beautifully shot film, and the acting was incredible. It was such a quietly profound movie, with so much witty humor. (That scene when Bill Murray's character was shooting the whiskey commercial (I think it was whiskey) cracked me up). Scarlett was amazing...once again playing a character 7 or so years older than she actually is. Not bad for a 19-year-old. Very refreshing to see a female actress of her age working in something of this nature. Bill Murray was incredible as well.

Don't you just love it when a film makes you think about it days afterward? The film that did that the most for me was "Mulholland Drive".

We also saw "Matchstick Men" the same weekend. It was good, but not fantastic in my opinion. Well-done acting and an interesting story, although I kind of figured it out before the end.

Quite a few good films coming out now......

[misstapioca]

oops, didn't read this thread before I started blabbing away on the thread I just started about this movie....:rolleyes:

[jennkristy]

JHolcomb: Yay! I'm glad you liked "American Splendor" so much. It was such a great film. I loved the bouncing back and forth between the "actor" Harvey and and the real Harvey. Really an endearing movie, I thought. A great story. Boy, did Cleveland look gray and dinghy throughout...but maybe that was on purpose to parallel Harvey's overall outlook? Also, Hope Davis was awesome, IMO.
Speaking of Hope Davis, has anyone seen "The Secret Lives of Dentists" yet? OMG! That was an incredible movie (gosh, it's beginning to sound like I say that about every movie :o , really...I am critical)
Not to go off on a different movie, but I REALLY enjoyed that one. A quiet, intense movie about a married couple, who are both dentists, that are dealing with incredibly poor communication skills (the husband, mostly) and attention issues (the wife, mostly). Ugh, that's a horrible description.....I'm so bad at summarizing what a movie is about..:rolleyes: ,...anyways, I highly recommend it.

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by jennkristy
JHolcomb: Yay! I'm glad you liked "American Splendor" so much. It was such a great film. I loved the bouncing back and forth between the "actor" Harvey and and the real Harvey. Really an endearing movie, I thought. A great story. Boy, did Cleveland look gray and dinghy throughout...but maybe that was on purpose to parallel Harvey's overall outlook? Also, Hope Davis was awesome, IMO.
Speaking of Hope Davis, has anyone seen "The Secret Lives of Dentists" yet? OMG! That was an incredible movie (gosh, it's beginning to sound like I say that about every movie :o , really...I am critical)
Not to go off on a different movie, but I REALLY enjoyed that one. A quiet, intense movie about a married couple, who are both dentists, that are dealing with incredibly poor communication skills (the husband, mostly) and attention issues (the wife, mostly). Ugh, that's a horrible description.....I'm so bad at summarizing what a movie is about..:rolleyes: ,...anyways, I highly recommend it.

It's so funny about the dinginess. That's one of the things that I liked so much. Not only did I feel like it was expressive of his mood, but for me (born in 1978), the 70s and early 80s seem so brown to me. Does that make any sense??? Probably not! I kinda just remember everything (everything!) being brown: polyester pants, wall panelling, carpeting, countertops, packaging...our town even SMELLED brown (I grew up between a town that varnished furniture and a city that made cigarettes!). I guess for some people, the 70s were very shiny-disco, or whatever, but in places like where I'm from (any industrial town or city in America, I guess), it all seemed very dull, even to a little kid. And I think the coloring in the film captured that memory and feeling so well for me.

My fave scene is when Joyce is diagnosing herself and other people. OMG, I about fell out of my seat!

"Are you very sick?"
"No, but I expect to be"

I want to see Secret Lives. DH maybe wants to see it. If L.I.T isn't playing this weekend, we may go see Secret Lives.

[jennkristy]

LOL...thanks for reminding me of that scene....Joyce had such dry, direct delivery.
I also loved the scene where she concludes "let's just get married" (I can't recall the exact line) as if she is saying "let's go do laundry". LOL

I was born in Cleveland in 1975, and I recall the same sort of "coloring" as you do back then! Brown, and some gray. Gray mainly due to clouds.
Although right about now I'm jonesing for a crisp MidWest autumn day! I digress: The dinginess of the film definitely set the mood. Well done.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Canice
Not yet, though I'm definitely going to. My profound question for you is how long was the line?

Sorry I didn't get to this yesterday. We went to an early show at the Metreon the first weekend and there wasn't much of a line when we got there 30 minutes before the show. The theatre did fill up. last Saturday, we saw the 9:15pm showing here in Lafayette and we walked right in.

We bought the soundtrack and after listeing to it, I want to see the movie again. There is just something about it!

There was an article in the New York Times a few days ago where the scenes with the Japanese director and translator were translated. Very funny. If I can find it, I will try to post it.

And after reading your notes about American Splendor, I want to see. We talked about going, but my very opinion DD didn't want to go for all sorts of wacky reasons - takes place in the MidWest, shich she thinks is very brown and dreary and she's never even been there. Such a narrow mind. Not really, but after a couple of trips to Omaha, she prefers to stick to the coasts.

[jennkristy]

MWS - That's cool that you found a translation to that scene with the Japanese director...I will have to try to find that...it had me rolling.

And, your DD is right about the MidWest! LOL, just kidding. I can say that since I grew up there, and now I live on the CA coast. :D The MidWest wil always be home to me, brown and all.

[Guest]

September 21, 2003 New York Times

What Else Was Lost in Translation
By MOTOKO RICH


IT doesn't take much to figure out that "Lost in Translation," the title of Sofia Coppola's elegiac new film about two lonely American souls in Tokyo, means more than one thing. There is the cultural dislocation felt by Bob Harris (Bill Murray), a washed-up movie actor, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a young wife trying to find herself. They are also lost in their marriages, lost in their lives. Then, of course, there is the simple matter of language.

Bob, who is in town to make a whiskey commercial, doesn't speak Japanese. His director (Yutaka Tadokoro), a histrionic Japanese hipster, doesn't speak English. In one scene, Bob goes on the set and tries to understand the director through a demure interpreter (Akiko Takeshita), who is either unable or (more likely) unwilling to translate everything the director is rattling on about.

Needless to say, Bob is lost. And without subtitles, so is the audience. Here, translated into English, is what the fulmination is really about.

DIRECTOR (in Japanese to the interpreter): The translation is very important, O.K.? The translation.

INTERPRETER: Yes, of course. I understand.

DIRECTOR: Mr. Bob-san. You are sitting quietly in your study. And then there is a bottle of Suntory whiskey on top of the table. You understand, right? With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the words. As if you are Bogie in "Casablanca," saying, "Cheers to you guys," Suntory time!

INTERPRETER: He wants you to turn, look in camera. O.K.?

BOB: That's all he said?

INTERPRETER: Yes, turn to camera.

BOB: Does he want me to, to turn from the right or turn from the left?

INTERPRETER (in very formal Japanese to the director): He has prepared and is ready. And he wants to know, when the camera rolls, would you prefer that he turn to the left, or would you prefer that he turn to the right? And that is the kind of thing he would like to know, if you don't mind.

DIRECTOR (very brusquely, and in much more colloquial Japanese): Either way is fine. That kind of thing doesn't matter. We don't have time, Bob-san, O.K.? You need to hurry. Raise the tension. Look at the camera. Slowly, with passion. It's passion that we want. Do you understand?

INTERPRETER (In English, to Bob): Right side. And, uh, with intensity.

BOB: Is that everything? It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.

DIRECTOR: What you are talking about is not just whiskey, you know. Do you understand? It's like you are meeting old friends. Softly, tenderly. Gently. Let your feelings boil up. Tension is important! Don't forget.

INTERPRETER (in English, to Bob): Like an old friend, and into the camera.

BOB: O.K.

DIRECTOR: You understand? You love whiskey. It's Suntory time! O.K.?

BOB: O.K.

DIRECTOR: O.K.? O.K., let's roll. Start.

BOB: For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

DIRECTOR: Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut! (Then in a very male form of Japanese, like a father speaking to a wayward child) Don't try to fool me. Don't pretend you don't understand. Do you even understand what we are trying to do? Suntory is very exclusive. The sound of the words is important. It's an expensive drink. This is No. 1. Now do it again, and you have to feel that this is exclusive. O.K.? This is not an everyday whiskey you know.

INTERPRETER: Could you do it slower and ——

DIRECTOR: With more ecstatic emotion.

INTERPRETER: More intensity.

DIRECTOR (in English): Suntory time! Roll.

BOB: For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

DIRECTOR: Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut! God, I'm begging you.

In an interview, Ms. Coppola said she wrote the dialogue for the scene in English, and then it was translated into Japanese for Mr. Tadokoro. The scene, she said, came out of her own experience promoting her first feature film, "The Virgin Suicides," in Japan. Whenever she would say something, she said, the interpreter would seemingly speak for much longer. "I would think that she was adding to what I was saying and getting carried away, so I wanted to have that in the scene."

In the scene, Ms. Coppola said, Mr. Murray never did learn what the director was saying. "I like the fact that the American actors don't really know what's going on, just like the characters," she said.

Frankly, it's not clear that even if Bob-san had understood what the director said, it would have helped.

Ms. Coppola said she purposely gave the director "lame directions," adding, "He wasn't supposed to be the best director."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/fashion/21LOST.html

[jennkristy]

Thanks for posting that translation...that is cool. That was one of my favorite scenes.

As an aside, my DH gets lots of good movie tidbits on the website www.imdb.com. (IMDB = Internet Movie DataBase) He said on there they revealed that the ditzy blonde rising-star actress that they ran into in the lobby was based on a real-life star.....does anyone want to take a stab at it (without looking first)? I suppose there are lots it could be, but I was a bit surprised when he told me (I guessed wrong a few times).

[Guest]

My first thought was Tara Reid and I have no idea where that came from.

[lisas3575]

Originally posted by JHolcomb
Still waiting on this one to make it to the cultural backwater that is Raleigh, NC. We FINALLY got American Splendor, which we saw on Friday night. It was un-freaking-believable. OMG, I love that movie so much. I told DH that I could seriously go to see it every single night that it's playing. I liked it that much. I can't even describe the one thing about it that I loved so much...it was just the whole damned thing.

Jen, I'd never even heard of this movie, or the guy, or the comic! :o I checked it out on IMDB and it's gotten really good reviews. Can you tell me if you need to be a fan of the guy and his comix to enjoy the movie? I live under a rock.

[jennkristy]

Tara Reid it is not, but I have a clue for you movie-buffs:

Sofia Coppola is married to Spike Jonze, who was the director of Being John Malkovich ....if you saw that movie and know which actors were in it, than that is a clue....:D

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by lisas3575


Jen, I'd never even heard of this movie, or the guy, or the comic! :o I checked it out on IMDB and it's gotten really good reviews. Can you tell me if you need to be a fan of the guy and his comix to enjoy the movie? I live under a rock.

Lisa, you would love it. I think. If you're a fan of R.Crumb (Felix the Cat, Mr.Natural) or Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, David Boring), you'll be so into it. Some people (the movie reviewer for the Washington Post, for example, but after reading that and learning that their music critic doesn't like Radiohead's later stuff---OMG, what an idiot--I've started placing less stock in what they have to stay, since I don't think I'm on the same wavelength), thought it was depressing, but I didn't see it that way at all. It's more real to life, and sometimes real life stuff sucks, but that shouldn't mean it's automatically depressing...if that makes any sense. In one way, yeah, his life sucks (working as a file clerk for the VA in Cleveland, been married 3 times, had cancer), but in another, eh, it ain't so bad (been married to his current wife for 20 yrs, recovered from the cancer). It's ain't Hamlet, is what I'm saying. But neither is it a Reece Witherspoon flick. It's just life. And if you enjoy observations on life from out of the ordinary people, you'll be so in love with it. I swear. I really want to go see it again this weekend.

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by jennkristy
Tara Reid it is not, but I have a clue for you movie-buffs:

Sofia Coppola is married to Spike Jonze, who was the director of Being John Malkovich ....if you saw that movie and know which actors were in it, than that is a clue....:D

Cameron Diaz??

[jennkristy]

JHolcomb: You are the winner! Cameron Diaz it is.

[CompassRose]

Okay, didn't anyone see this and not like it? I rented it last night (as part of my attempt to see as many Oscar nominees as possible this year) and -- wow. That was a looooooong 105 minutes.

It had a very few good -- if rather self-consciously moody -- moments. Some very nice image work. But on the whole, it reminded me of a string of those coyly emotional "lifestyle" type commercials for, say, life insurance that never really say anything directly... strung together by a deal too many endless loops of Scarlet Johansson's admittedly charming lower cheeks in transparent panties.

And this is reputed -- according to critics I usually trust -- to be one of the cream of the Oscar crop. Must've been an unusually low year.

[britneyelise]

I will preface this by saying no, I did not see it. I rented it for my parents to watch and both of them struggled through it. We are movie buffs at my house and they both said it dragged on so bad. My dad said it was "Okay, but not Oscar Worthy" and my usually quiet mother absolutely hated it.

We lived in Japan for three years and they felt that the portrayal of the Japanese people was way off the mark, granted this was not the focus of the film, but it made for a distracted audience.

I was going to watch it, but after those reviews I decided to just go to the theaters and see Cold Mountain (fantastic, loved the book, albeit not the ending) and when I took this back I got "Pirates of the Caribean", very cute!

Shannon

[KimK]

CompassRose -

I didn't especially like this movie, either. I had tried to read the book and couldn't get more than 1/3 into it - I'm not sure why I thought I would enjoy the movie. The scenery was beautiful, I enjoyed the characters, but I didn't really enjoy the movie overall. I agree....it was a LONG 105 minutes!

Kim

[kcmo727]

Originally posted by jennkristy
Tara Reid it is not, but I have a clue for you movie-buffs:

Sofia Coppola is married to Spike Jonze, who was the director of Being John Malkovich ....if you saw that movie and know which actors were in it, than that is a clue....:D



Oh my gosh, wow! I was wondering when I saw the movie if that character was based on a real person and Cameron Diaz kept coming to mind!!! I guess Sofia wasn't too crazy about her! Did you know that Spike and Sofia recently divorced. Sad.

Thanks for the tidbit!

[little_bopeep]

I finally watched this movie about 3 weeks ago. There were only about 20 people in the theatre, and as we were all leaving, a lady said to her friend, "Now I know why the theatre was empty." I had to agree. I love Bill Murray, but this just wasn't him (except during the commercial filming). I can't imagine what everyone else saw that I can't see in it. It wasn't what I would call boring...just...nothing.

[Peggy]

Have to agree with the so-so reviews on this film. It was OK but I can't believe it was nominated for "Best Picture".:confused:

Peggy

[colleency]

We just picked this up on DVD, and we really enjoyed it.

[buffygirl]

DH and I saw it and left the theater wondering what all of the hype was about. I typically like movies that others call boring, but this one bored even me. I'm stunned that it got a Best Picture nomination. JHMO.

BK