Last Bill Translation

[Jonathan Crow]

I actually found Lost in Translation really irritating.  Whenever a western
filmmaker goes over and shoots in Japan, most seem to recycle the same
visual clichés: a shot of Mt. Fuji, the Shinkansen, a Geisha, some misty
temple, and the riot of neon in Shinjuku. And in the Lost in Translation,
Coppola dutifully includes each one of these clichés. (OK, there was no
geishas in LIT but there was a woman in traditional bridal garb).  I'm not
really sure why the movie was set in Japan except to accentuate its
exoticness in relation to main characters.  And that's a particularly
unimaginative way of portraying the country.  For a film that had so much
going right for it (Bill Murray's performance for instance), its depiction
of Japan was just lazy. 

Anyway, that's my two cents,

Jon

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of
drainer at mpinet.net
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 2:55 PM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Last Bill Translation


 I still want to see "Lost in Translation."
 I can't stop hearing enough about it... it's time to watch it.

What did you think of it? Better than her last film? (I hope so.)

-d



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Gerow" <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
To: <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 5:38 PM
Subject: Last Bill Translation


> For probably the first time in its history, KineJapan has had very 
> little mail in the last few weeks, with some weeks of absolutely no 
> mail. What's happened?
> 
> Unfortunately, it's been hard for me as co-owner to spark discussion 
> since I've been in the process of moving, but now that I am "kind of" 
> settled, I might as well ask the question that's been on everyone's 
> mind:
> 
> So what do KineJapan members think of the recent spate of Hollywood 
> films set in Japan, particularly Last Samurai, Kill Bill, and Lost in 
> Translation? Is there a particular reason why there's a rush of such 
> films? What do they entail for Japanese moving image media? Clearly 
> Last Samurai and Kill Bill are very aware of Japanese cinema, but what 
> do we as Japanese film afficianados make of these citations?
> 
> Let's get some discussion going.
> 
> Aaron Gerow
> KineJapan owner
> 
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
> 
> For list commands, send "information kinejapan" to
> listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html
>