Lost in Translation

[Sleuth]

Where the FUCK is Pete?

[cron]

The times when German soldiers spoke english with each other in WWII pics are over...

Now let's wait for the times where Taliban forces speak english with each other.
ARE YOU READING, MICHAEL BAY?

[molly]

Brad Pitt like a hot sexy taliban

[cron]

Brad Pitt like a hot sexy taliban

[molly]

they would probably modify the clothes, make it tighter, more opened, or more leather.

[Finn]

I talked to that guy again today and he admitted that the movie wasn't as bad as he said. He said he saw it while he was in a bad mood and that he would go back and watch a second time to give it another chance. He says that at this point it's an okay movie, but he didn't think it was as good as all the hype was talking about.

[The Perineum Falcon]

Haha. Ok, guess I'll go into it here. Kill Bill is frankly one of the few films that doesn't buy into the Asian stereotypes. Take O-Ren Ishii. Tarantino cast Lucy Liu who is Chinese but didn't cast her as a pure Japanese and totally ignore her American accent - as the typical director would. Instead he made her a half-Japanese half-Chinese who was brought up in America. Other directors just don't think about these things.

Not to mention the countless examples of how he portrays the Asian anime/martial arts/film culture. That's the truest portrayal I've seen from a Western director. It was really something when he paid all those tributes, one could tell he is a true fan of those genres. That is a compliment to Asian culture and is why I like it so much. LIT portrays Japanese culture but you can tell it is from a bigoted Westerner's point of view. (However, I will again point out that this helps the script.) It is merely a glance at the weirdness that is Tokyo, and how ludicrous Japanese 'Engrish' sounds.. basically, a caricature. I can't help comparing LIT with Kill Bill in this respect because in KB, the characters weren't reduced to caricatures. They were not ridiculed, they were celebrated.

foray

You just blew my fucking mind.

The Japanese were reduced to caricatures? How so? I thought Japan was just the setting and the movie was about Charlette and Bob.
Did you want her to go more in depth about the Japanese population, sorta like a short documentary on their culture?

I don't recall anyone being reduced to caricatures. They were just people who's culture is different to ours; culture clash, ya know? And I thought Charlette's friends showed how "normal" Japanese people are, if that's what you wanted. Don't bring up the karaoke scene as a stereotype, cause Japanese really fucking love that stuff.

[Chest Rockwell]

Foray, I'm sorry but your opinion is totally wierd. First off, what the fuck are we doing comparing LIT to Kill Bill? They're two completely different movies...but on the matter of how they each portray Japanese culture, I say LIT portrays them in a more dignified manner than Kill Bill. Kill Bill reduced their portrayals more to caricatures in the fact that they're based off Asians from the old kung-fu movies, rather than there really being any exploration into their culture. LIT on the other hand, doesn't delve real deep into the culture, but that's not what the movie's about, anyway. It's about a couple of people lost in life, one in the middle of a middle-age crisis, and the other in the middle of an identity crisis, and their feelings become harsher due to their loneliness in this congested place foreign to them. Then they become friends and help each other through it all. Notice that never in that synopsis did I say the words 'Japanese' or 'Tokyo.' But LIT gives much more sympathy to their culture; the Scarlett scenes when she goes out exploring really show fascination more than alienation. And I doubt the Japanese would be offended by the movie--they'd probably understand the same turmoil the characters go through and probably understand a little bit about feeling foreign. But anyway, perhaps these opinions are just my own.

[pete]

much sympathy to their culture?  LIT was like a movie version of engrish.com.  good character development and subtle romance doesn't take away its American-centro, condescending attitude.

can you imagine a British movie where an English actor comes to America to hang out in the city, only to be overwhelmed by black people and their hip hop music, their ebonics, how they're taller than him, doing the cool handshake, fetishizing big booties, and such?  Lost in Translation is well-made, but it's not without a condescending racial undertone.  Try spending a night watching how the waiters are treated in your local Asian restaurant, and you'll realize all fucking rich businessmen talk to the waiters the way Bill Murray did to the sushi chefs.

if you weren't offended, or if you liked the movie regardless of its attitude, fine, the more power to you.  But don't go dismissing the other people (or peoples) who come out with a different reaction because the film reminds them of how they or people they know are treated in this country everyday.

[Chest Rockwell]

Good point...I wouldn't stretch to call it a condescending attitude though. I saw those scenes as not as much an opinion of the culture but more of just showing the characters' reactions to the foreign environment. It's only a natural response for a foreigner to notice the quirks of the people that surround him, and I think Bill takes not of these things around Scarlett as a way of lightening the significant pressure they both felt being in a world completely extraneous of  their own. And the other scenes, such as the "Lip my stockings" scene I don't think point to a negative or bigoted viewpoint but rather show these quirks to further separate the characters from their environment and lessen their understanding of the place. But I guess my opinion is crap anyway since I've never experienced the feeling of being in a totally foreign place....but that's just what I felt.

[modage]

can you imagine a British movie where an English actor comes to America to hang out in the city, only to be overwhelmed by black people and their hip hop music, their ebonics, how they're taller than him, doing the cool handshake, fetishizing big booties, and such?

yes!  and it would be accurate if it were set in philadelphia!  i think it would help emphasize the lonliness and isolation 'stranger in a strange land' feeling of being out of place.

[tpfkabi]

i think all the Blockbusters got LIT posters this week, so you might ask them for one. one store i went had just thrown one away and the other let me have one for free. they used to have boxes set up and you could buy them for 2 bucks or so, but i guess they did away with that.
i love the poster.

when i walked in i heard an old lady speaking to the cashier:
"...i try to check out movies that are nominated for awards, but nothing really happened in the movie....."
" yeah i felt jipped after watching it"
how do you think the general public will react to LIT? i'm guessing the above statements will be made by a big section of the public. they'll probably expect a Bill Murray flat out comedy (deja vu' with Adam Sandler and PDL, huh?)........  & about the lack of talk of Scarlett.........Sophia obviously wants it that way with only Bill on the poster (i know there is a Scarlett version, but you mostly see Bill)

[foray]

much sympathy to their culture?  LIT was like a movie version of engrish.com.  good character development and subtle romance doesn't take away its American-centro, condescending attitude.

can you imagine a British movie where an English actor comes to America to hang out in the city, only to be overwhelmed by black people and their hip hop music, their ebonics, how they're taller than him, doing the cool handshake, fetishizing big booties, and such?  Lost in Translation is well-made, but it's not without a condescending racial undertone.  Try spending a night watching how the waiters are treated in your local Asian restaurant, and you'll realize all fucking rich businessmen talk to the waiters the way Bill Murray did to the sushi chefs.

if you weren't offended, or if you liked the movie regardless of its attitude, fine, the more power to you.  But don't go dismissing the other people (or peoples) who come out with a different reaction because the film reminds them of how they or people they know are treated in this country everyday.

Thank you, pete.


Look you folks, I like your precious LIT. The comparison between LIT & Kill Bill prolly came up from some tangential comment that I can't even remember.

Every film is political whether you like it or not. I'm sure this has been discussed before on this board. Take Breakfast At Tiffany's; of course it wasn't about the bumbling Japanese neighbour Mr Yunioshi, played by Mickey Rooney who exaggeratedly squints, shows some buck teeth and talks like a fucking idiot. That guy had just a handful of scenes, yet when you discuss about racial caricatures in film with anyone, almost always Mickey Rooney's caricature will come up as a classic example. And you know what, the same people would still love the film Breakfast At Tiffany's.

foray

[Pubrick]

yeah, this debate was a joke.

let's now return to real discussion.. like a good quality cap of that ass shot. that other one was too dark.

[kotte]

If a character in a movie says the n-word...

Is the character or the filmmaker racist?