For a relaxed time...Make it "Lost in Translation" time

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2005)

Every time I write, I think if what I'm going to write has been written. It's important to write your own personal opinion, and that's why many people write the same things. We can think equally, sometimes, and can't help it. Because I have heard lots of things about this film and I have been desperate to see it since it generated all the buzz. "A masterpiece", said critics and movie fans (well, not every movie fan, because many have found this to be overrated). I can deny these both statements; this is not a masterpiece, neither an overrated movie. But it is really interesting to know what it accomplished because of the risks the people in it took. There are many points to discuss about this movie; it causes you to wonder. This is the type of movie I like to name "personal experience". Reality becomes a main character in this piece about characters.
Although I haven't seen flaws in the movie (maybe some things were lacking), I couldn't say it is perfect. It has the great moments, the great times (Suntory time?). The script, for example. Winning an Oscar for a script that hardly shines and has an amazing lack of complexity. This is the type of screenplay that inspires me to write, because I like to, but I feel obliged to create emotion in words, and that stops me from starting. This is inspiring because it is not afraid of being simple, and as I said (well, didn't but..."personal experience"), treating with reality. Everyone is afraid of dealing with this. It couldn't work; but someone has to try. What I'd like to write about is real situations about real people, with words we use constantly in our daily lives. This fact itself justifies the awards the script received. It is like breaking the ice. There are not many words written, but the ones that are, are creating worthy sentences.
These two characters have a whole world inside of them and destiny has joined them. To be together? I don't think so. Just to stop for a while and realize about their positions and objectives in life. One of them (Bob) has already lived, and does not have a clear objective. Just thoughts. She (Charlotte) is starting to live, but isn't please with life and sees that he could tell her the way it is. Their encounters are slow paced and naturally shot. The third time they meet, he tells her: "I'm planning a prison escape; we first have to get out of this hotel, then out of the city, then out of the country". She answers: "I'm in". This is the starting point of their relationship. They are escaping from a prison; the prison they are living in. Then they know each other, and their relationship grows into something you can't name. Love? No. Although it is the way we could see it, because of Charlotte's relationship with her husband, and because of Bob's weak feelings for his family. In a lunch scene, after Bob and Charlotte's relationship had been growing, Charlotte is jealous because Bob has slept with a singer (interesting, the thing about the band: "Sausalito"). It could also be like a father and daughter thing.
This is not romance. Drama for sure, and of course comedy. I'm not going to say the acting work is excellent, but it is without doubt funny. Bill Murray (Bob) creates faces. Faces that can make loneliness to seem funny. His faces resemble to the ones Jack Nicholson used to do all the time. Fun in this film comes naturally. This never happens in movies. If you're not laughing is because you're not paying attention to how sad and ridiculous can the life of a person become. Drama makes a place for comedy in this film. It is well handled. We can understand Bob's looks. It's human. Johansson is not great, as I heard she was (maybe because nothing in this movie is). But she has the charm and strength to play this role. She's lost; they're both lost. Stuck, Charlotte says in one scene: "I'm stuck". She asks Bob about marriage and kids. She thinks he is in a crisis. He just answers how great a family is, that kids are the joy of life. This is one of the best scenes I've seen. It's the best scene in the movie, also. I was talking about "personal experience", about reality. This is a realistic scene. The rest is also real, and that's what you should expect.
One friend said to me, when we were talking about "Lost in Translation", that the film had no "climax". I should say that it doesn't need one. I wasn't waiting for it.