Lost in Translation

I’ve seen the film Lost in Translation once before, and remember I wasn’t too impressed. I had the complete opposite opinion after watching most of it in class last Thursday. First off, the movie is hilarious. Bill Murray is definitely one of my favorite actors. He’s the kind of guy that can make you laugh merely by standing in one place. He has a very comical way about him. I thought the way the film plays with different kinds of communication is also very humorous and interesting. The scene where Bob is doing the commercial is one of these. The director seems to say a paragraph of information to Bob, but the translator then says only a few words. While this was very comical, it also made me wonder if there was any truth to this. Is Japanese really much more long-winded than English, or was the translator merely summarizing the directors instructions? Another interesting form of communication occurred between Bob and his wife. I liked how she would write him letters. It would seem calling would be a much more personal and time-efficient form of communication, yet she chooses written words. It’s also funny when she sends him carpet samples. I wouldn’t think this would be important enough to send overseas. The use of “I love you” also intrigued me in this movie. Multiple times, people say it to Charlotte and she doesn’t give a response. Then, Bob says it to his wife, yet doesn’t get a response. Perhaps this says something about the whimsical nature of being young, and the conversely realizing that what you have could slip away at any time when you’re older. This is definitely a humorous film, which also has many interesting ideas about communication.