Last Bill Translation

[drainer at mpinet.net]

 I don't think my replies ever went through.
 So here they are again:

 
  So does Lost in Translation orientalize Japan?

  All of my friends tell me to watch it (they've never been to Japan), my
father's friend says it's "exactly like our trip there" (he was there for a
week when I moved there). I also found it that a lot of subculture people
seem to find the movie "amazing." And as I said, with the exception of my
father's friend, none of them have been to Japan...

 ... this is why I am curious to watch it. (Although I currently live in
Japan, I still consider myself a tourist. After all, I do not consider my
work there to be permanent.) How does the film construct Japan? How is the
experience of being in Japan portrayed in the movie? Japan definetely
belongs in the postmodern (in so many ways) and is also a haven for cultural
studies, but then again, I think that the same can be said about other
places.


 On the other hand, the story seems to be what most of my friends
particularly go for, so maybe the Japan[ization] of it all is just there for
aesthetic coolness (as another poster pointed out)? It would make more sense
for this to be the case, given Coppola's other works.


 Unfortunately, it is not playing here anymore (I'm currently in the U.S.
for two weeks), so I can't watch it.

 What are crazy apartments of twentysomethings like? I think that I have the
most "Japanese" apartment out of all of my friends in Japan, and that is
only because my place is old.

-df

-----Original Message-----
From: Jean Pierre Kellams <tetsuo at technolustomega.net>
Sent: Dec 22, 2003 8:53 PM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: RE: Last Bill Translation

Jon,

Isn't that what the experiences of those characters would be of Japan.
While I was last in Japan for a year of study, the experience of my
family members who have travelled on business trips to Japan is much
like that of Lost in Translation. They take pictures of the Geisha, the
Shinkansen, the temples, and the neon. It is representing the Japan
those characters would experience. It also shows the crazy apartments of
twentysomethings that typified my experience in Japan. 

Also, be fair. Johansson visits Kyoto as a tourist in the temple montage
sequence. The neon lights of Shinjuku surround the Park Hyatt. The
shinkansen is an experience most Americans are new to experiencing.
These are all things that would be new or foreign to an American
unaccustomed to visiting living in Japan. It is exactly what a
tourist/business trip photobook would be filled with. Sofia Coppola has
a great deal of experience with Japan because of her clothing line (that
sells particularly well there) and has made a film representative of her
experience and experience like hers.

Jp 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> [mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf 
> Of Jonathan Crow
> Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 8:26 PM
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: RE: Last Bill Translation
> 
> 
> 
> 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
> > 
> 
>