Lost in Translation

2010-12-25T23:01:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite movies. It played tonight and I was glad. I've been craving seeing it again. But I wasn't really sure why until the end of the movie.

I've always been a huge Bill Murray fan, ever since seeing him on re-runs of Saturday Night Live. He's a crazy bastard. But you get a real sense of how much he cares for the people around him watching those episodes. He cares, he's really funny, and very self-mocking. Dare I say he has some Canadian qualities about him. At any rate, I love everything he's done.

The first and one of the few serious roles he played was in a movie called "The Razor's Edge". That movie affected me very deeply. It was Bill at his best. My favorite part was after his antagonist played by his brother Brian died. "He will be missed." was the line after cursing him for being such a bastard. As much as you may not like someone, you still give them the respect. It's a great movie, one of Bill's best. If you get a chance to see it, please do.

Lost in Translation brings that back, probably for the first time. If you ever get a hold of the DVD, watch the special features. Sophia Coppola, of course daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, was incredulous that she was able to land Bill in the role. But it was a perfect choice and really set this movie to be a classic for me.

Of course, there's the whole undertone of Japanese culture that for us North Americans, was very eye-opening. They are a great people with great tradition, but really messed up culturally themselves. I may never get to set foot there, but I feel I've seem some of it.

To me thought it was really about the journey that Bob and Charlotte found themselves on. Both lost in their lives, lost in a foreign culture but lucky enough to find each other. A lot has been played about the sexual tension between them and the promise of new found lives together. But that's not it at all. And I think that's made clear in the DVD special features.

No, it was about a girl looking to find herself falling in love with who should could be. And a man falling in love with being in love once again. As an older man myself, you remember the loves of the past, especially with the girl you married. As the relationship matures, you always yearn to feel that again, especially as you hit mid life. Bob found that with Charlotte. But he also has it with his wife. "Should I worry about you," she said. "Only if you want to," was his reply. And you can sense in her good-bye, she definitely wants to. And he knows it.

Love is a special feeling. I hope everyone get's a chance to feel and live it. As you get older and you get more settled in your life, and life gets easier, you do yearn to go back to the energy, the passion, the danger, that loves bring. Bill Murray portrayed all of the emotion around that to perfection. And I get to live it through him in this movie and feel that as he does. Thank you, Bill.

Doug on Life

Lost in Translation