Movie Reviewers and the music in Lost in Translation...Do they get it? Do they need to?

I don't understand that viewpoint. I can understand that Coppola was trying to make that sequence central to the film. But I don't see it. I saw nothing that gave a reason that Murray/Johansson found the experience better or more liberating than sitting in the hotel bar.

Was Coppola's point that sitting in a bar talking with trying-way-too-hard hipsters is better than sitting in a hotel bar listening to bad lounge music?

Sophia Coppola has been opening up in interviews about the problems with her marriage to Spike Jonze who's off taping skateboarders these days, and this seems like another autobiographical zing at Spike and maybe his pals the Beastie Boys. Or maybe it's just harmless fun and humor...

Anyway, I thought the review was ridiculous. Gee, a movie that inaccurately portrays the city in which it's filmed? You don't say! This guy must really fucking hate Woody Allen.

I've never listened to My Bloody Valentine, so the whole hype about getting Kevin Shields to wake up long enough to create some soundtrackage was lost on me (as was the fact that one of their songs apparently appears in the film). The Jesus and Mary Chain song really works beautifully, though. Hell, I even liked the way the Peaches song was used.

Hi Steve, Spike Jonze was photographing and filming skateboarding and bmx in Baltimore in the mid-1980s (oh about 20 years ago). You should check out his work, especially "Video Days" by Blind (1991) which is considered maybe the best skateboard video of all time.

JBlount- I thought the music was done very well; the music, the setting, and the cinematography were probably the only things that I really enjoyed about the movie (cf: plot/story, character development, believability, acting, etc.)

Also....and I never thought I'd say this, but am I the only one who was put off by the constant and sadly predictable potshots at Asian stereotypes? It just seems that the Japanese were reduced to the equivalent of Ewoks throughout the picture.

I'm not sure if the review cited above talks about the actual translation of the Japanese commercial-director's comments, but a Japanese friend of mine says that they're pretty funny. She didn't find the movie particularly offensive, but that's just one person's opinion.

you may be interested in my thoughts?

(And this probably isn't the right thread to post this but) I didn't find any of the depictions of Japan to be stereotypical or offensive, though they were probably exaggerated to contribute to the stranger-in-a-strange-land sense of dislocation. You could probably make a similar film about a Japanese actor in America. (In fact, somebody really should, and it should star Takeshi Kitano.)

Oh Gygax,I know he's been doing so for years although I haven't seen the one you mentioned. What I didn't explain above was that in a recent Washington Post interview with Sophia, it said that Spike has been spending recent months traveling the country filming skaters (and that he and Sophia haven't been together or talking). That's what I was referring to--and that Spike has done a Beastie Boys video. She's seemingly jabbing at or poking fun at people that she knows( or maybe there's some creative license going on).

Regarding the stereotypes(the Asian ones as opposed to the hiphop one)
Jenkins says as Alex noted:

"The film's language-barrier bits, which make much of the Japanese difficulty with English's "r" and "l," provide some of its lowest points. Yet only two reviews I read criticized these condescending yuks. In Slate, David Edelstein noted that the film, as he gently put it, indulges in "cultural superiority." The Village Voice's J. Hoberman focused his charge even more narrowly, allowing that "there are a few too many yahoo jokes based on Japanese English."

Oh Gygax,I know he's been doing so for years although I haven't seen the one you mentioned. What I didn't explain above was that in a recent Washington Post interview with Sophia, it said that Spike has been spending recent months traveling the country filming skaters (and that he and Sophia haven't been together or talking). That's what I was referring to--and that Spike has done a Beastie Boys video. She's seemingly jabbing at or poking fun at people that she knows( or maybe there's some creative license going on).

Regarding the stereotypes(the Asian ones as opposed to the hiphop one)
Jenkins says as Alex referred to:

"The film's language-barrier bits, which make much of the Japanese difficulty with English's "r" and "l," provide some of its lowest points. Yet only two reviews I read criticized these condescending yuks. In Slate, David Edelstein noted that the film, as he gently put it, indulges in "cultural superiority." The Village Voice's J. Hoberman focused his charge even more narrowly, allowing that "there are a few too many yahoo jokes based on Japanese English."

my girlfriend loved the scene in the hospital w/ the old person trying to ask bill murray when he came to japan.. we both liked the whole whiskey commercial thing - apparently the director was laying out a scenario where bill murray was supposed to be with old friends and offers them his finest whiskey. after the first take, the director is all pissed off because bill murray isn't showing enough respect to the whiskey (because it's supposed to be so amazing/expensive).. and the translator is just telling him - "more intensity..please.." great stuff

also- the talk-show host is a famous talk-show host in real life, and while his set was embellished a bit, that's pretty reflective of his style.. a lot of the other stereotypes - arcades, karaoke, etc, are based in reality at some level and I think they were being utilized because those are the types of things that westerners tend to notice in the japanese urban environment.

overall though, i thought the constant depression of the 2 main characters got a little too heavy at times and slowed the movie down just a little more than I would have liked. I tought at times the music was perfect, but at other times it seemed somewhat out of place (even though it was still great), but then again it was kevin's first attempt at a soundtrack, and was overall pretty successful..

Is that the line? Man, I always thought he was singing "honey dripping behind," which, either way you read the phrase, is rather skeevy. (Which I thought was the point.)

Well, Ned, I can't speak for yours, but behinds don't generally drip honey. Beehives, however, have been known to.

Then again I hate most movie critics. I seldom read reviews from critics anymore. I can usually tell if I'll enjoy a movie based on actors, directors, plots, etc. I don't need some overly-critical windbag with a totally different aesthetic outlook telling me what to think of a movie.. ah well, i enjoyed the film regardless

I was thinking more 'honey dripping behind (her)' -- ie, 'the water was dripping down behind the house,' etc.

Hahahahaha. Well, just goes to show ya where our heads are at. In any event, I pretty sure it's beehive

point of the karaoke scene is you get closer to people when you've proven yourself willing to embarrass yourself in their presence, no?

On former observation, Alex OTM. On latter, "Just Like Honey" dates from the period when it every single record released by a band from Glasgow had Honey, Candy or Sugar in the title.