Lost in Translation

The soundtrack to Lost in Translation is done by the band Air and is quite good, but watching it tonight, it occurred to me that thematically - not just aesthetics but the suggestions presented in the constant companionship of the incomprehensible city that surrounds them - the band M83 might make for a tighter fit. There is a strange presence in each of... is it possible - oblivion? Air is appropriately surreal but inappropriately reassuring - or am I wrong? Perhaps Air isn't reassuring us at all. Perhaps they are merely working at the same punctuated speed as our higher cognition - requiring events, lapses, days to wear through generic boredom into something conclusive.

A couple years ago, I had a very positive initial reaction to the film sub-genre uselessly known as "Mumblecore", when I saw both Mutual Appreciation and even better, Quiet City. The latter made practical use of the space between characters as well as the characters themselves - what went unsaid and undone and unseen are all in our minds when a movie has the patience to let our minds wander - carefully, purposefully. But Lost in Translation (and Coppola's earlier "The Virgin Suicides") does this even better. The strange alien city is constantly speaking underneath Bob and Charlotte; after a time, it is there even during relatively grounded scenes like those that take place in the hotel bar.

I have liked this movie more after each viewing, as my attention gradually shifts from the largest moments to the smallest. My favorite moments tonight are the flower arranging, the first night in the club with Charlie Brown, the shots of Charlotte sitting on the windowsill looking down at the city that she doesn't understand; as her marriage, as her life.