This week we were assigned to watch Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. I thought it was an interesting movie that had a slow build to it. It was hard for me to get into at first, but as things started to build up with the main characters, I found myself getting more interested in the film. Coppola did an excellent job directing and I think she picked a great cast for this film. One of my favorite parts of the film was that it was shot in Japan, so that was something unique that I have never seen before. I have never seen a film written by Sofia Coppola, so it was interesting to see how her style of film compares to other film directors' styles of film.
I think that it was cool to see Bill Murray play such a different role than we saw him play in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The film portrays Murray as this movie star that travels to Japan to do a whiskey commerical. He seems like this lonely guy, just lost because he not only is he all alone but he does not understand anything anyone is saying because it is all in Japanese. I feel bad for Bob because he tries to talk to his wife about things and she kind of just ignores how he is feeling and get of the phone as soon as possible. Then Bob sees this women in the elevator, and he stares at her so she smiles at him.
Bob decides to go to the bar, and the women named Charlotte is there and she smiles at him and sends him a drink. I think that Charlotte and Bob both are experiencing the same problems, since their both are alone in this foreign city. Charlotte and Bob meet again at the bar for the first time and have their first conversation, which seems very easy for just meeting each other. Bob and Charlotte run into each other at the pool, and Charlotte decides to invite Bob to come out with her and her friends. They develop into really strong friends throughout the film constantly hanging out with each other. I thought that they were starting to develop feelings for each other because times throughout the film, it looked that way but they weren't. My favorite scene that symbolizes their friendship was at the end when he jumped out of the cab on the way to his flight because he saw Charlotte, he hugged her tightly, whispered something in her ear, then the two shared a quick kiss, which was sweet. I thought Coppola ended the film perfectly.
Something interesting about this film was that both Bob and Charlotte are shown constantly looking out their windows throughout the film. This reminds me of Rear Window because in that film, L.B. was constantly looking out his window as well. To me, the window symbolizes how both characters of Charlotte and Bob want to be free, but they trapped in this foreign country alone, where they don't know what is going on because they do not speak Japanese. Coppola also uses the reflection of the window in the scene where they are talking in Bob's room, so you can still seem them just through a different lens. The concept of the window created a deeper meaning to the plot, so I thought that was cool that Coppola incorporated it into this film.
Some people thought that Coppola was not a true auteur but she was just famous because her father was a well-known filmmaker. Sofia won an Oscar for writing "Lost in Translation" and a New York Film Critics Circle award for directing it. She is a true auteur because her protagonists in her films were generally strong-willed women. Growing up as Hollywood royalty, Coppola had access to the rich and famous, which allowed her to use cool places for her film sets, including Paris Hilton's house.
I liked how Coppola brought two characters together that really needed a friend in their time of loneliness. They were both struggling to find their purpose in their life and relationships and simply needed someone who would understand. I believe the way Coppola formed this relationship was perfect.
Even though I didn't really like this film that much I will agree, it was interesting to see Bill Murray in a role so different from Wes Anderson's film. I think I liked his character idea more in this film. He was a bit more relatable and it was cool how it was reflective of Bill Murray's real life as an actor getting older and getting fewer roles.
I do wonder if Coppola have connections to the film industry due to her father allowed her to have an advantage in film making therefore allowing her to have a quicker rise to fame and auteurism. Whereas a woman of color or someone without connections to the film industry wouldn't have survived or made it that high to a level of auteurism.
The first film we watched was Dr. Caligari, which is a very old film. It has a little bit of dialogue, and has some color in it. Something that I found interesting about this very old movie was that it was a completely silent film. I think the music choices they picked were interesting because they were like a different type of jazz music that I had never heard before, so it was cool to hear something new. Dr. Caligari is the oldest film I have ever watched, so it was very crazy to me just to see how movies used to be filmed back then. The next film that we watched was about Snowy, the turtle. I thought it was a cute little film and it made me laugh a few times. I thought it was cool how Snowy has been alive for 25 years and remains alive today. I did think that they got some great shots of Snowy in the film, especially when he was outside in the grass. Another thing I thought was great was that they went to see the turtle expert, and she gave them some tips to help with Snowy and I be...
This week in film class, we watch Wes Anderson's, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I thought it was a different start to a film because it started with them in the theatre viewing the first part of their documentary. I thought the movie was not bad, and it was cool to see his style as a director because I have never seen a Wes Anderson film before. I feel like after watching this film, you can get an idea of what type of style he uses in his films. Something that I think is cool that Wes Anderson incorporated into this film was his different uses of "Mise en Scene" techniques throughout every shot in his movie. One of the ways that "Mise en Scene" was incorporated into this film is through the very limited colors he choose to use. By using these same color patterns throughout each frame in the movie, it helped him tie together both the plot and the different characters. I liked how Anderson wanted to create a strong plot line with his characters by creating...
This week in class, we watched Rear Window and I thought it was good. I was not sure what to expect because I have never seen it, or really heard much about it. I believe that Rear Window had some really cool aspects to it. My favorite part about Rear Window was probably that it had a mystery thriller storyline to it, so the whole time while viewing the film, I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. I thought it was interesting that Alfred Hitchcock was in his own movie as well, as the wonderful piano player, that had such lovely music. I really liked how Hitchcock was able to show us the different perspectives of different people's lives by viewing them through their windows. I thought this concept of the window was so unique because it gives the viewer one person's perspective of the bigger overall picture. Another thing that I loved about the whole window concept was that it created rather interesting shots, and gave a different look to the st...
I liked how Coppola brought two characters together that really needed a friend in their time of loneliness. They were both struggling to find their purpose in their life and relationships and simply needed someone who would understand. I believe the way Coppola formed this relationship was perfect.
ReplyDeleteEven though I didn't really like this film that much I will agree, it was interesting to see Bill Murray in a role so different from Wes Anderson's film. I think I liked his character idea more in this film. He was a bit more relatable and it was cool how it was reflective of Bill Murray's real life as an actor getting older and getting fewer roles.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if Coppola have connections to the film industry due to her father allowed her to have an advantage in film making therefore allowing her to have a quicker rise to fame and auteurism. Whereas a woman of color or someone without connections to the film industry wouldn't have survived or made it that high to a level of auteurism.