FILM

My friend John wrote this note after watching Lost in Translation this week:

There were 2 affairs in the movie. One was an emotional infidelity that Charlotte had with Bob, and the other was, in comparison, a vulgar physical infidelity, which Bob had with the lounge singer. I recognize that Bob was emotionally unfaithful to his wife as well, but I gave it less consideration than his physical indiscretion. I wish Bob's liaison with the lounge singer did not need to be included in the film. After it happened I so wanted it to be stricken from the record, because it degraded the relationship that had
developed with Charlotte. I'm a romantic with a guilty conscience, and these situations unsettle me. Life and love are bittersweet, however, and the scene was unquestionably necessary. Without it the movie would have had a "Hollywood-happy ending". How inappropriate. The film would also have lost an important element: the frequent disconnection between emotional intimacy and physical urges. My explanation for the affair with the lounge singer, is the she was a substitute for Charlotte. I regarded this as a demonstration of Bob's unwillingness to involve Charlotte in something she might later regret (to taint her with the stain of infidelity). Bob's decision not to sexualize his relationship with Charlotte whether conscious or not), was a sacrifice. It was an act of love and respect.

I felt significant empathy for Bob, who as an older man, remembered what it felt like to love and laugh with his wife, to meet the "most delightful people" in his life (his children), and to recognize how time and
circumstances impact relationships. These are all feelings and experiences I will likely encounter one day. As an aside, I hope I make better decisions. I also empathized with Charlotte, who was obviously at an awkward stage in her life: a recent graduated with no sense of professional purpose, newly married to a person she thought she knew, but is really just getting to know. I got the impression that John loved harlotte (the "I Miss You" fax), and the voice of Bob's wife registered concern and love for him, albeit
slightly distracted by the dilemma of choosing the right rug color for his study. Hollywood often justifies infidelity by villanizing the victim. How different would the film be if John was sleeping with the bimbo actress, or if Bob's wife was a cold bitch? That these people were both in "sound" relationships made it more difficult to justify Bob and Charlotte's relationship. It forced the audience to grapple with the ambiguity and come to their own conclusions.

As Bob and Charlotte's relationship developed it was easy for me to suspend disbelief and accept that under these unusual circumstances two people could develop very strong feelings for each other. The contradiction between Charlotte's desire to feel understood and both character's moral responsibility to recognize the commitment they made to their spouses provided a tension that drove the movie forward. Whatever Bob whispered into Charlotte's ear at the end of the movie will remain a mystery. It's effect
on them both, however, allowed for the resolution I needed, a resolution that would not have been possible if the last encounter they had was in the hotel lobby. I'm still trying to figure out what was said. Any ideas? I am assuming he addressed the possibility of Charlotte perceiving his affair with the lounge singer as either a rejection of her (physically) or a sign that his interest in her was common (he did this often with little consideration). Perhaps he said something that impressed upon her that their
connection was special, and that it improved him?

The context in which these interactions happened (Tokyo) is important to note. It could have been anywhere, but I think it needed to be alien, so both characters felt disconnected to their daily lives. I believe behaviour is more frequently defined by context than character. There is something about being anonymous, perhaps the expectation that your actions will have zero impact on your "real" life, that gives people the freedom to take risks they would otherwise walk away from. I felt this movie was like a more
complicated version of Before Sunrise. Like if Ethan and Julie's characters were involved in relationships with other people, the interaction between them in Before Sunrise would have been fundamentally different. That would be a cool movie. Apparently Linklater is considering a sequel. I'll call him to chat...

A day in the life in Japan was also pretty cool: the karaoke, the Japanese surfers, the clubs, videogames, a Japanese Johnny Carson, Japanese directors... It's always a delight to see how other cultures work.

A tangential note: Movies seems to depict stability with negative stereotypes, for example presenting the decision as to which "storage solution" one should buy from IKEA as a crisis. I suppose it is merely a
reflection of the artistic types (directors/writers) backlash against the homogenization of cultures. It's a slap in the face to people who have played by the rules their whole life and are "successful", or certainly
enjoy the trappings of success. After being consistently employed, paying off a mortgage on a house, sending kids to college, and saving enough to retire, you are told (via popular culture) that you lived uneventful and sterile lives, as if risk and change should have been your focus. It's a freakin contradiction that makes us all uncertain about the larger sense of purpose in our lives.