Lost in Translation

[silverstar189]

I really love this movie, and got an hd dvd player just to get the previously released hd dvd version (which i've still got to get round to, 'doh!) Has anyone heard anything, or have any idea as to when the studio 9focus features) would be looking to release this on blu?

[LynchFan]

L.I.T needs to be flanked by Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette as a blu-ray trilogy in my opinion. Sofia Coppola is such a talented filmaker and her movies would all look gorgeous in HD! I have no inside scoop on when these will be released though unfortunately.

[silverstar189]

i've heard somewhere that marie antoinette is due for release in the future. i have the hd dvd of lost in translation coming sometime this week. i think virgin suicides would be one to have on bd as well, if only for the scene where kirsten dunst wakes up in the middle of the football field. excellent cinematography.

[Kyo28]

The photography of Lost in translation was very good and I believe a BD release would do it even more justice. Visually, it's a very good film

Originally Posted by LynchFan

Sofia Coppola is such a talented filmaker

Seriously?
Lost in Translation is nothing but a summary of one cliche about Japanese after the next, which totally fails at depicting a 'realistic' Japan. Me and my (Japanese) wife perceive it as a slap in the face of Japanese and Japan's culture. If Ms Coppola wants to be taken seriously as a director, she needs to learn to do some research before making a beleivable movie. Unless the movie was meant as a spoof like Scary Movie, in which case I find the jokes of rather bad taste.
I'd rather crawl naked over shards of broken glass than watching this insult of a movie again.

I haven't even had the courage to start watching Marie Antoinette but from what I read about it, it's a movie that mixes the modern trend setting life with historic places & costumes. It also doesn't inspire much confidence.

I really wonder, why can't she just do her research and make a movie that at least is grounded in reality? She wants to make profound movies that have a deep story to tell, yet the background in which her movies play are as cliched and paper-thing as a 3rd-rate action movie

[silverstar189]

i agree that japanese people are a non event in this movie, though i don't think it was done with malicious intention, as apparantly the girl has a lot of connections in tokyo and the place is a favourite of hers. i think it is more of an oversight on her part, as the film was written by herself and then filmed in only 28 days. the theme of the film is the feeling of alienation in a foreign environment, so you'd expect the locals to be in the background, but i think she missed an opportunity to have a couple of insightful japanese characters, or maybe to show somebody who was native to japan yet isolated in their own way, etc etc. either way i got the hd dvd tonight so i'm sitting back and seeing if its any good.

[Kyo28]

Originally Posted by silverstar189

i agree that japanese people are a non event in this movie, though i don't think it was done with malicious intention, as apparantly the girl has a lot of connections in tokyo and the place is a favourite of hers. i think it is more of an oversight on her part, as the film was written by herself and then filmed in only 28 days. the theme of the film is the feeling of alienation in a foreign environment, so you'd expect the locals to be in the background, but i think she missed an opportunity to have a couple of insightful japanese characters, or maybe to show somebody who was native to japan yet isolated in their own way, etc etc. either way i got the hd dvd tonight so i'm sitting back and seeing if its any good.

I can accept that it wasn't meant as a overt slap in the face to Japanese. However, I got the feeling she used every single (untrue) cliche in the book to underline the feeling of alienation. I think as a writer/director that is a pretty poor way to do it: it turns your movie into a parody (which it clearly wasn't meant to be) and you lose the effect you hoped for due to the loss of credibility of the background of your story.
A good writer/director should have been able to convey the same message or feelings without resorting to the easy road of the cheap cliches.

A movie like The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift also completely falls flat on its face when taken seriously, because they also fail to depict a credible Japan, but at least that movie isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's pure action pop-corn and as such, it can get away with it.

Coppola wanted to make a movie that has content, but if you can't back it up with a decent, credible story, it bombs terribly in my opinion.

I get the feeling she took her own feelings as a foreigner who was lost in Tokyo and projected it on the characters in the movie, by using exagerations and cliches.

It strikes me as odd really. Japan is supposedly one of her favorite place yet she obviously never took the trouble to even read a simple tourist's guide book. I already had a Bachelor in Japanese translation when I first went to Japan and we can hardly expect the same from every tourist, but a little reading into the culture you're visiting and pretend to like would be a minimum, I think.

Both this movie and Coppola herself strike me as odd. It feels borderline schizofrenic: someone who doesn't know the first thing about Japan wants to depict a credible story set in Japan ... someone who supposedly loves Japan doesn't seem to know the first thing about it.

Both my wife (who is Japanese) as well as myself (western but with some background knowledge) just couldn't get into the movie. Some cliches are just too much over the top: the prostitute in the actor's room, him towering over every single Japanese man in the elevator by at least one head, the bath tub being too small ... These are things I would expect in a movie like Austin Powers, but not a movie that wants to be emotionally engaging.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by Kyo28

Some cliches are just too much over the top: the prostitute in the actor's room, him towering over every single Japanese man in the elevator by at least one head, the bath tub being too small ... These are things I would expect in a movie like Austin Powers, but not a movie that wants to be emotionally engaging.

These are all things friends of mine who have traveled to Japan have experienced and told me about. I myself have never been to Japan, but considering Bill's height, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the norm for him.

[Kyo28]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

These are all things friends of mine who have traveled to Japan have experienced and told me about. I myself have never been to Japan, but considering Bill's height, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the norm for him.

Your friend had a prostitute in his room?

Anyway, I've lived in Japan for some time but was never confronted to such issues, especially in the hotels I've stayed at in the bigger cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo and even the smallest city in Japan: Takamatsu. Such hotels are equipped to receive foreign guests and as such, it would strike me as odd that everything was too small. Unless of course your friend is tall even for western standards. I'm pretty average at 177cm.

But then again, Coppola purposely casted an actor like Bill for the part due to his height. It helped her a great deal to bring those cliches to the front. Had she put for example Tom Cruise in that elevator, he wouldn't have stood out at all.

[silverstar189]

The prostitute scene is by far the weakest and I have heard a few people mention the same. It's as if a few of these gags were added to help sell the film to the mainstream so that they 'get it' easier. i always feel a bit of embarassment when i'm in japan at just how knowledgable people are of the english language there. saying that, the photo shoot scene is pretty hilarious....

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by Kyo28

Your friend had a prostitute in his room?

Anyway, I've lived in Japan for some time but was never confronted to such issues, especially in the hotels I've stayed at in the bigger cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo and even the smallest city in Japan: Takamatsu. Such hotels are equipped to receive foreign guests and as such, it would strike me as odd that everything was too small. Unless of course your friend is tall even for western standards. I'm pretty average at 177cm.

But then again, Coppola purposely casted an actor like Bill for the part due to his height. It helped her a great deal to bring those cliches to the front. Had she put for example Tom Cruise in that elevator, he wouldn't have stood out at all.

I meant to say aside from the Prostitute part, anyway my mate would be around 6 foot 3 as a guess. So no monster, but not short either.