So I saw…
…Lost in Translation. And really liked it, as most people seem to do. As a Bill Murray fan from days gone by (“Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear excelerator on his back.”), it’s nice to see him get some recognition. And yeah, Sofia Coppola’s a good director–tone is very important in a piece like this, and the movie rarely puts a foot wrong. I was a teensy bit bothered by something, but since it involves a spoiler for the end, click at the bottom of this entry only if you’ve seen the movie.
Funny thing is, as one or two of you know I’ve spent a fair amount of time in my life railing against overblown, big-budget films and for human stories told artfully and consistently. But now I find myself rooting for Return of the King over this movie at the Oscars. Irony, some call it.
It also reminded me a little of my play No, the Other One, which a few of you have read. This makes me sad because it makes me think someone beat me to it, which makes me want to listen to Stephen Sondheim’s “Move On” from Sunday in the Park with Stefon (that’s a joke to see if he’s watching).
Oh, and I don’t want to ignore Scarlett Johansson’s brave performance, either.
When Bill Murray whispers in Scarlett Johansson’s ear at the end and we don’t…quite…hear what he says, part of me is bothered by that because it makes me think: She (Sofia Coppola) couldn’t find the line.
I gather that it was crafted to be deliberately ambiguous, which is a note I appreciate at the end of a story–used it once or twice myself–but in this case it wasn’t wholly, 100% satisfying.
It’s an incredibly hard note to strike, and lord knows it doesn’t shatter the film, but there it is and it bothered me.
ETA: My pal Corey reminds me that “Bill Murray’s take on it – according to Coppola, who I saw speak at UCLA last week after a screening of the film – is that “It’s between lovers. It’s none of our business.”
I certainly don’t disagree with either her or his interpretation of it and as I said, it by no means ruined the movie for me…it’s just a quirk of mine. I think I would have been happier if it had been either fully heard–how is that less of our business than anything else in the film?–or played completely as a look. It’s the meshing of the two together that got a bit sticky for me.
But, I don’t want to overstate that–it’s a wonderful film that just happens to end with a choice I wouldn’t have made. It’s a little too girl-in-college-writing-class (“And suddenly…she understood”) for me.