Independent Perspective News - Interview with Sofia Coppola

Francis's daughter's successful new film, a bitter comedy about two strangers in Japan.

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"Lost in Translation" tells the adventures of a Hollywood star (Murray) who goes to Japan to shoot a whisky commercial for which he's being paid 2 million dollars. He spends his nights at the bar of the luxurious Hyatt Hotel, confused by his hosts' habits and overwhelmed by the trouble with his marriage. There he meets another American (luminous Scarlett Johansson), married to a famous photographer who leaves her alone at the hotel to kill time with self-help books. Each finds in the other not salvation for their sorrows, but something like a soul mate.

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Have you ever felt like them?

Yes, sure, and not only in Tokyo. What I was most interested in transmitting was that feeling that you're lost. There are times in life when you feel like that. What I like about the story is the exaggerated aspects of the situation.

Don't you fear that the Japanese might feel you're mocking them?

They don't find it offensive. On the contrary, what happens to us makes them laugh. They say that this is the first time a movie's shown tourists like the Japanese see them. They are amused by the "Americanisms", they love to see the stupidity of foreigners in Japan.

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"When you're traveling round this kina of places you're very often more prone to emotional encounters -she says. It's some sort of freedom that allows you to open to people because you know you'll never meet them again, and you talk more than you usually do. The translation problem may appear when things get complicated, confusing."

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Lately it's been said that her marriage with Jonze is over, and that's something the movie seems to reflect in the difficult relationship of the female protagonist with her young husband. She prefers not to talk about it, and instead tells us of the quick shooting (27 days), the low budget, the fact that Japan is cool ("much more than people think") and how she laughs when people ask her how she came up with Murray's character. "I was in Tokyo, long ago, and I saw a huge coffee advertisement with Harrison Ford's face -she says. The expression on his face was terrible, suffering. It was a very strong image. The sadness of having to do that showed in his face."

For reading the complete article (in spanish), click here.

From http://www.lost-in-translation.com/, Q & A with Sofia Coppola.

Q: Sofia, the vantage point of a young woman has been a constant in the work you've done so far. But here, working with Bill Murray, you explore the older man's as well…

Sofia Coppola: …and he's having a midlife crisis in Japan - where it's already so confusing. In the film, Charlotte is having that early 20s, "what do I do with my life" crisis. She and Bob are two people at opposite ends of something comparable; she's just going into a marriage and he's on the other end, having been in one for years. There is camaraderie between them at the moment in time that they're at. It's two characters going through a similar personal crisis, exacerbated by being in a foreign place. Trying to figure out your life in the midst of all of that…I always do that on trips, just start to think of these issues when I'm away from home.

Q: What was the genesis of the idea for Lost in Translation? Did it come from a specific trip?

SC: It was inspired by spending time in Japan in my early and mid-20s. I went there six or seven times over a couple of years. Just from spending time there, being in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, I wanted to do something set in Tokyo, and I liked the idea of how, in hotels, you keep running into the same people. There's this sort of camaraderie even though you don't know them or even talk to them. And, being foreigners in Japan - things are distorted, exaggerated. You're jet-lagged and contemplating your life in the middle of the night. (...) And there's just something funny about being stuck in a situation that you don't really want to be in.

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Q: What would you like audiences to take away from their experience of watching the film? A mood? A moment? A specific emotion?

SC: I can only say why I wanted to make the movie: to convey what I love about Tokyo and visiting the city. It's about moments in life that are great but don't last. They don't go on, but you always have the memory and they have an effect on you. That's what I was thinking about.