Is Lost In Translation really good, or crap?

[Max Jacoby]

I find it a bit ironic that Sofia Coppola gets so much credit for 'directing' this movie since I was told by a person involved in the shoot that the main driving force was Lance Accord, who did way more than a cinematographer usually does. But then again choosing the right collaborators is also an important 'directing' skill.

 

Bill Murray's speech at the Oscars regarding the shoot and the director was actually not meant to be funny...

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I like it, I'm looking for the DVD, and I know almost nothing about Coppola. Never really been into idolisation of directors. I like some David Lynch and hate others.

 

Phil

[David Mullen ASC]

People make a movie and put it out there and just hope it survives and makes it money back. I've never been confortable when a film does better critically or financially more than anyone expected and then people start blaming the filmmaker for getting more praise than they "deserve" as if they had much control over that. Same thing happened with "The Piano" -- more people saw it than usually see indies because of word or mouth and critical praise, and some were disappointed and said the movie was being overhyped and started a backlash against the director.

 

"Lost in Translation" was a lightweight film and given a breezy and loose filming approach to suit the subject matter. If it's not your cup of tea, that's fine. If you have real criticisms of the movie, that's fine (many people I respect do). I just don't want to start hearing snide generalizations about women directors on this forum. Stick to the specific faults of the movie if you want to.

[Matt Pacini]

Sorry to tick you off so much, David.

 

I originally posted on this, because out of about 25 people I knew that had seen the film, only one thought it was good, most thought it was kinda OK, and quite a few thought it was absolute rubbish.

I'm not questioning someone liking the film or not, I'm talking about it winning the Acadamy Award.

Big difference.

Most films I like don't win an award of any kind, let alone "the Big A".

 

And it was ONLY the WOMEN from this group who were saying they thought it got all this attention because a woman directed the film, so naturally I didn't think that stating the opinion of women I know, would be evidence that I'm unfair and sexist, but hey, in this day and age, I guess that's what I can expect.

 

Matt Pacini

[Floyd Diebel]

i really liked lost in translation, and thought lance acord's work was beautiful, in that it infused the characters' stories with meaning and texture. without his photography, the film would not be nearly so good.

 

i don't think the film was racist at all.

[painfulcrash]

Lost in Translation : I was slightly disapointed :(

I like Mr.Coppola's son's work better then his daughters.

 

ow , by the way I found a really neat commercial that Lance Accord shot :

http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/1099/

[Jon Rosenbloom]

This has probably been covered: The problem w/ LIT isn't the movie itself, but the ridiculous hype around it. On it's own, it's not much of a film; it's very slight, physically & emotionally. In fact, the story is just a big tease the whole way through. But, it was a break from the usual mind-numbing hollywood bombast (e.g. Mel Gibson yelling "Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as his guts are ripped out), and critics who are starved for anything that even appears intelligent couldn't help themselves in lavishing praise on it. The marketing dep't hypes the praise, then it's a phenomenon. Then people go to the movie w/ high expectations, and come out wondering what all the fuss was about. Happens all the time. (IMHO, I think the same can be said for "In The Bedroom.") Why get so upset about it? If she can succeed by making little indie films, more power to her. Maybe I'll get to shoot one ;) .

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I quite enjoyed it, for the reasons given. A small, quiet film among the standard raft of brash, overproduced American trash we're generally subjected to.

 

Phil

[Leon Rodriguez]

Back in what seems like another lifetime, (1986/87, I think) I was the sound engineer for a famous Japanese new age synthesist named Kitaro and I lived in downtown Tokyo, in Shinjuku, sometimes called the 'city of lights'. Major neon displays on the magnitude of Times Square or Picadilly Circus and beyond.

 

Being the only English speaking person on the crew, I spent a lot of time sitting in the 85th floor Penthouse bar and isolating at the hotel, the Shinjuku Prince.

 

I've got to tell you, Sophia and Lance got it. The whole thing, the too slow tempo of the cover tunes, the too red hair of the lounge act, the wanna be American youth outreachings like the T-shirt messages that didn't make sense and the karioke rooms, The almost intelligible conversations based on about a 12 word common vocabulary, The height difference, the enormous arcades. Just everything. They got it.

 

That, to me, is very good filmmaking. I have no point of reference about Oscars or whatnot. That reality is irrelevant to me being a non-union indie who will never get to participate there, but on a purely emotional level, I thought they told their gentle, sensitive story with grace, honesty and conviction. They made me relive those months in Tokyo all those years ago, by placing me in exactly that recreated vibe. I don't particularly credit the acadamy for the wisdom of seeing that but I wanted to share that point of value with my fellow filmmakers. They just nailed it down cold. Not easy to do.

 

So for that, I gotta say, "good job, Sophia and Lance"

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Tokyo is high on my list of places to see, but I'm intimidated by the sky-high language barrier... how did you find it?

 

Phil

[Leon Rodriguez]

Phil,

They got that too. Life is funneled in and out of the highly censored and ever present "interpretor" whose job is more to smooth over rough edges from the culture differences in an everpresent smile and continuous sequence of bowing, than to actually do direct translations.

 

The director making the commercial with the Bill Murray character dipicts that really well. "Are you sure that's all he said?" is what you're always feeling. If they get tired they edit less and things happen. I've got a funny story about that.

 

We had an extra big show coming up where we were going to record and shoot a multi-camera shoot in a 50,00 seat stadium. My friend, British sound engineer, Nigel Paul who was free from his regular gig with Joe Satriani was there also. We had been overheard talking about how great it was going to be to be able to eat a great steak again. So the producer decides to take us out to the best steak house in Tokyo. We're elated to be eating something that is not staring back at you from the plate saying, "I could have been swimming...". A recognizable texture against the pallete was too much to fathom.

So we get to the steak house and they bring out these enormous plates with a plug of beef on it about the size of a silver dollar. Nigel, in his dry British humor says, "It's not a Porterhouse, is it?". After about two weeks you just forget the interpreter is even there so I reply, "Hey, man I'm from Texas I was expecting a sizable percentage of a cow's ass on this plate."

What we don't know is that the chef/restraunteur is standing over us waiting to get our reaction. The interpreter is tired so she translates verbatim and Kitaro and his manager get this look on their face. The very proud Chef is raising all kinds of hell, assistants are running all over the place following the guy around smoothing over the situation. In fact, the only ones now left sitting are me and Nigel, eyes closed taking micro small bites from the cherished morsel on our plates. I wish I could have sent that one to Sophia, maybe she could have used it.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Did your interpreter get the giggles? I find that small, female, Japanese translators, and this is in my experience three out of three, have a fifty percent higher tendency to get the giggles than anybody else.

 

Phil

[Leon Rodriguez]

For days. I believe that giggles and bowing is mandatory when applying for the job. Yes, giggles. Lots of them. Big on sweetness. Anybody's guess on accuracy of translation. I mean, I think that's Ms. Coppola's point, Lost in Translation. What actually gets put across to represent what really happens. How could we ever know?

[Michael Struthers]

LIT - the bottom line, did you like it or not? I liked it.

 

Was the best screenplay of the year? Most of the screenwriters in Hollywood nearly gagged on that one.

 

Let's face it, Sophia is not the second coming, but she's not untalented. If nothing else, she knows when to let industry pro's do their thing.

 

Frankly, it felt like a really well done Sundance Entry. And what's wrong that?

[Xuefei24p]

The film that was overshadowed by Lost in Translation was, to my great horror, the master film The Barbarian Invasions. That was the best screenplay of the year, and there was no excuse for it not winning. The Screenplay award belongs to Denys Arcand, dammit.

 

Coppola, Lucas and Scorsese have learned all that they know from Kurosawa. Coppola's daughter moves along the same lines.

 

I found LIT to be a mediocre film, and I was quite pissed that Remy Gerard from Barbarian Invasions was passed up by Depp and Murray for an Actor nod.

 

What is the artistic value to seeing a shot of a woman's ass? Who cares about the faxes from his wife about the carpet? Who wants to see minutes of shots of Tokyo? I liked the shots better when Tarkovsky did them nearly forty years ago in Solaris.

 

Overall, this film was overrated, and, if we go by critical concensus alone, Barbarian Invasions is the superior film.

 

I think this was nepitism, plain and simple. For this film to outdistance the best French-Canadian film ever made is a travesty.

[Guest fstop]

I find it a bit ironic that Sofia Coppola gets so much credit for 'directing' this movie since I was told by a person involved in the shoot that the main driving force was Lance Accord, who did way more than a cinematographer usually does. But then again choosing the right collaborators is also an important 'directing' skill.

 

With due respect, wasn't Ms. Coppola actually dating Spike Jonze (spe?) before or during the filming of LIT? Now call me cynical, but...

 

Anyway- I think the poor girl has more than paid punishment for all the Godfather 3 performance backlash she had to put up with for 13 years- reassuring to see someone deemed a notorious joke in the spotlight turn things around like she did.

[Matthew McDermott]

I realize we're kicking a dead horse on this thread, but since it's been revived...

 

Was it nepotism that this film got made? Or that they shot on 35mm v. the miniDV or other smaller formats that they originally talked about? Of course it was. When your father's FFC you can probably get just about anything made you want. Well maybe not anything but it doesn't hurt at all. But what's so shocking about this? We all work in an industry where connections are just as important if not more important than any level of talent. From the biggest feature to the smallest industrial or documentary about the guy who runs the corner bodega, it's all about who you know. Why that shocks anyone is beyond me. Does this make Lost in Translation a bad film? Or have any bearing whatsoever on Coppola's actual work as a director? No.

 

We've all heard the stories about how little she directed on the set--which may or may not be true. But she did cast the right people, and that's probably more important than how you work with them during production. Slight exaggeration... but if you get the right people for the right part, the film pretty much makes itself. She wrote Bill's part with him specifically in mind. Jim Jarmusch writes with specific actors in mind all the time, but do people criticize him for be a lazy director? Maybe they do, but that's not the point. The point is--and I'm nearly certain I'm going to start a war in this 99% male forum--the point is that I don't think Ms. Coppola would be receiving nearly as much criticism if she was a man. If we didn't like the film we'd all just let the film go by and say, "ah, mediocre meandering rubbish." But since she's a woman, she's held to a much higher standard within this industry.

 

And before we get all righteous about Scarlet Johanssen's ass as the opening shot of the film. Let's remember that the director was also a woman. What that has to do with the objectification of the human body I don't know, but it's certainly a good bit of inversion. We let literally hundreds of pointless, gratuitous scenes of female nudity go by every year, but this one get's talked about to the point of exhaustion. And I quite like female nudity...

 

I personally love the film. Is it a masterpiece of character study, method acting, plot development...or anything? No. But it was markedly more satisfying for me to watch, ambiguities and all, than 99% of the schlock that passes through my local cinema's projector.

[Greg Gross]

Shot on high ASA film and mostly shoulder mounted camera although

not exclusively. On the go a lot with camera and serious time restraints

and restrictions(of course they broke the rules). Good description of how

film was shot on dvd(special features). Now one of my favorite films of

this era is "NorthFork"if it has any fault at all,its that it makes you have

to think a little! The film look,mood is awesome!" Lost In Translation" is a

great story and told well but it also makes you have to think a little. Now

when you compare film look, "Northfork" wins hands down! The only look

mood that struck me well was the low light scenes in the bar. I also liked

the scene where they are in bed sleeping and his hand is touching her foot.

This is one powerful story fellows! You have to think hard to get it! What do

you think he whispered in her ear at the end? I use to act a little in the 70's

and my method is to think of things that happened in my life. I would conjure

up memories and feel the pain. This ending scene is so powerful in "Lost In

Translation" that I found myself in their characters feeling the pain and I

felt it for days(I wanted to do a re-write)I did'nt want him to walk away from

her! Excellent story,excellent use of camera,but not exactly the look I would

want. I think both films mentioned here are excellent and they are not getting

enough recognition! People in my area (Camp Hill,PA) are waking up to

"Northfork"now). Sophia will be back soon with a Panavision Genesis camera.