Meeting Lost People

        

        In Lost in Translation, Bob and Charlotte are both feel cynical while visiting Tokyo, Japan and they reconsider heavy questions like what the meaning of life is. The director, Sofia Coppola, creates an environment for the audience to feel supportive of Bob and Charlotte throughout the film. 

        Both of them are married but still go through with their brief relationship, which is usually seen as bad, but Coppola frames it differently. For example, when Charlotte's husband meets an girl he met before, he gives her more attention that Charlotte, waiting to introducing her and saying she is his wife. By the end of the film when a woman meets Bob before Charlotte give him his jacket back, he makes sure to stop the conversation and see her, juxtaposing the actions of her husband. Both characters are lost due to being in a place where they don't understand the language and culture, and also because the communication and excitement from their relationships have deteriorated.

        The soundtrack is great, having songs that are played with lyrics about people trying to understand the world and find something good while they feel down. The shoegaze genre with artists like My Bloody Valentine and Kevin Shields are utilized to express the feelings Bob and Charlotte. Shoegaze focuses on an abrasive, complex, but also thought provoking sound that represents the very disorienting thoughts and feelings we have. The combination of ambient shoegaze and very on-the-nose lyrics in the karaoke scene add to the theme of finding yourself and navigating relationships with others.

        There was also a contrast between the beginning and end of the film with one of Coppola's motifs. To start, we see Bob in a car, looking out at Tokyo's skyscrapers and billboards at night. There is a shot from outside of the car, looking in at Bob, which portrays a feeling of him being trapped and dissatisfied. This is opposed in the end where he is leaving in the morning. The colors are mostly grey and unsaturated, which is one of the choices I dislike the most from 2000's films, but here it mirrors how Bob and Charlotte view the world in a boring, unfulfilling way. Although the color grading gives off a bleak feeling, Coppola also uses a blue and orange tint often, which are complementary colors that not only appeal aesthetically, but also represent the small moments where there is joy in life.