Review of Lost in Translation (2003) by Rickt. — 23 Nov 2005

After the first viewing, I thought it was racist, offensive and Bill Murray's performance was disgustingly arrogant. Scarlett Johanson is the director's alter ego, who may have felt alienated during her stay in Japan.

After all, Sophia Coppola was probably a spoiled American brat with a huge ego. I really enjoyed this movie, it was very well designed, well filmed and the on-location sceneries were gorgeous and fascinating.

Bill Murray destroyed all that. He was downright rude and thoughtless. And Scarlett has this innocent angel in a strange world attitude that is very annoying. Typical White American better-than-thou-over-other-inferior-race mentality.

However, after the second viewing, it suddenly changed. We see Bill Murray as a typical unhappy American, unfaithful to his wife. We see his wife (through the fax machine) as a typical materialistic housewife.

We see some Americans at the hotel as being very shallow and dumb. It seems like Sophia Coppola was in fact poking fun at both races. These two protagonists, however, were beginning to discover themselves while they have become alienated with Japan, their own lives as well as their very own people.

Also, when Sophia Coppola received her Oscar at the ceremony, she cited Wong Kar Wai as one of her inspirations. All is forgiven! This is a good movie. It is one of those movies that are easily misunderstood (remember Natural Born Killers?).