In light of Roger Ebert’s latest inclusion of Sofia Coppola’s masterpiece Lost in Translation (2003) into his Great Movies archive, I have selected one of its best scenes with dialogue I hadn’t understood completely. Until now.

No, it is not the inaudible whisper before the movie’s end. I don’t ever want to know what Bob (Bill Murray) said to Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) before they parted ways. That is between them and it is none of my business.

The scene in question is the awkward taping of the “Suntory Time” commercial. Like Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt before him, Bob Harris is one of many American actors being paid big bucks for promoting a product strictly for Japanese television. Not knowing a word beyond “saki,” Bob is at the mercy of a hyperactive director (Yutaka Tadokoro) and his kookily incompetent interpreter (Akiko Takeshita). The director passionately delivers lengthy instructions while the interpreter summarizes. This is serious business, but their struggle to communicate is as funny as a misunderstanding between Abbott and Costello. They’re all floundering, but there is no condescension. The human comedy works because the characters are sincere. We really feel for them and laughter alleviates the tension.

I was intrigued to find out more about this tidbit that Ebert wrote about:

There is wonderful comedy in the film, involving the ad agency’s photo shoot for the Suntory Scotch commercial and Bob’s guest shot on the “Japanese Johnny Carson.” But Coppola remains firmly grounded in reality. The Japanese director seems to be spouting hysterical nonsense until you find a translation online and understand what he’s saying and why. He’s not without humor. The translator seems to be simplifying, but now we understand what she’s doing. There’s nothing implausible about the scene. Anyone who watches Japanese TV, even via YouTube, knows the TV show is straight from life. Notice the microscopic look Murray gives the camera to signal “just kidding.”

You can read his complete review here.

There’s a translation online! Why didn’t I think of Goggling it in the last seven years? I love this scene so much that it has become a infectious meme when I’m faced with either trying to explain something to someone or the other way around. My mind usually echoes Ms. Takeshita’s voice, “More… intensity!” The scene works just as well as any scene could without knowing what the Japanese are actually saying. However, discovering what they are saying is just as rewarding. A great deal of thought and wit went into their dialogue. Could we expect any less from Ms. Coppola? She is truly at the top of her game.

“Suntory Times” Scene with English Subtitles

What Else Was Lost in Translation

Motoko Rich originally published the translated text on September 21, 2003 in the New York Times.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/fashion/21LOST.html)

DIRECTOR
(in Japanese to the interpreter)
The translation is very important, O.K.? The translation.

INTERPRETER
Yes, of course. I understand.

DIRECTOR
Mr. Bob-san. You are sitting quietly in your study. And then
there is a bottle of Suntory whiskey on top of the table. You
understand, right? With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the
camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the
words. As if you are Bogie in “Casablanca,” saying, “Cheers to you
guys,” Suntory time!

INTERPRETER
He wants you to turn, look in camera. O.K.?

BOB
That’s all he said?

INTERPRETER
Yes, turn to camera.

BOB
Does he want me to, to turn from the right or turn from the left?

INTERPRETER
(in very formal Japanese to the director)
He has prepared and is ready. And he wants to know, when the camera rolls,
would you prefer that he turn to the left, or would you prefer that he turn to
the right? And that is the kind of thing he would like to know, if you
don’t mind.

DIRECTOR
(very brusquely, and in much more colloquial Japanese)
Either way is fine. That kind of thing doesn’t matter. We don’t have
time, Bob-san, O.K.? You need to hurry. Raise the tension. Look at the
camera. Slowly, with passion. It’s passion that we want. Do you
understand?

INTERPRETER
(In English, to Bob)
Right side. And, uh, with intensity.

BOB
Is that everything? It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.

DIRECTOR
What you are talking about is not just whiskey, you know. Do
you understand? It’s like you are meeting old friends. Softly,
tenderly. Gently. Let your feelings boil up. Tension is important!
Don’t forget.

INTERPRETER
(in English, to Bob)
Like an old friend, and into the camera.

BOB
O.K.

DIRECTOR
You understand? You love whiskey. It’s Suntory time! O.K.?

BOB
O.K.

DIRECTOR
O.K.? O.K., let’s roll. Start.

BOB
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

DIRECTOR
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!
(Then in a very male form of Japanese, like a father speaking
to a wayward child)
Don’t try to fool me. Don’t pretend you don’t understand. Do you
even understand what we are trying to do? Suntory is very exclusive.
The sound of the words is important. It’s an expensive drink. This is
No. 1. Now do it again, and you have to feel that this is exclusive.
O.K.? This is not an everyday whiskey you know.

INTERPRETER
Could you do it slower and…?

DIRECTOR
With more ecstatic emotion.

INTERPRETER
More intensity.

DIRECTOR
(in English)
Suntory time! Roll.

BOB
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

DIRECTOR
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut! God, I’m begging you!

In an interview, Ms. Coppola said she wrote the dialogue for the scene in English, and then it was translated into Japanese for Mr. Tadokoro. The scene, she said, came out of her own experience promoting her first feature film, “The Virgin Suicides,” in Japan. Whenever she would say something, she said, the interpreter would seemingly speak for much longer. “I would think that she was adding to what I was saying and getting carried away, so I wanted to have that in the scene.”

In the scene, Ms. Coppola said, Mr. Murray never did learn what the director was saying. “I like the fact that the American actors don’t really know what’s going on, just like the characters,” she said.

Frankly, it’s not clear that even if Bob-san had understood what the director said, it would have helped.

Ms. Coppola said she purposely gave the director “lame directions,” adding, “He wasn’t supposed to be the best director.”

Lost in Translation would be out of place on the Comedy shelf, however, the “Suntory Time” scene as well as more than a dozen got more giggles and belly laughs out of me than most of the official comedies released that year. (Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa (2003) was one of the few proud contenders.) It is a compliment that a film rich with humour due to its wise human observations doesn’t just stop there. Lost in Translation is an acute human drama and a mood piece. It’s so bittersweet that it stings. My heart wells up over the rare, delicate connection that Bob and Charlotte make in this time and place. They can never replicate that ever again. Thank God for that fire alarm…

“Lost in Translation” Trailer

Sean Connery is pleased with Suntory Whiskey.

“Shaken, not stirred.”

More Films by Sofia Coppola:

“The Virgin Suicides” (1999) Trailer

“Marie Antoinette” (2006) Teaser

“Marie Antoinette” (2006) Trailer

“Somewhere” (2010) Trailer

These are such poignant films…

© 2010, CINELATION | Film Reviews by Christopher Beaubien. All rights reserved.

Some movies have one great scene lost in a bunch of not so great ones. Then there are some movies where it is a challenge to pick one over the others. Matinee falls in the latter category. It was directed by Joe Dante (Yes! I made three references to Gremlins all in one week!) who specializes in unveiling very dark things under the guise of campy B-movies. This is perhaps the most idealistic autobiography that Dante has ever realized.

Set in Small Town America – 1962, the film affectionately follows Lawrence Woolsey played by the versatile John Goodman as a schlock independent filmmaker who showcases gimmicky monster movies with great bravado. He is a low-rent version of William Castle, the mastermind behind Vincent Price vehicles like House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Tingler (1959), a movie that shocked theater patrons with electric buzzers in their seats courtesy of Castle.

Woolsey’s next science fiction film MANT!, a loving homage by Dante to Kurt Neumann’s The Fly (1958), uses the Tingler Effect and other tricks to offer his audience a unique experience. Releasing an exploitation film about atomic radiation mutations when Americans feared the dropping of the bomb at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis is to Wollsey’s mind (“What better time to release a horror movie!”) Wollsey is not a cynical man; he genuinely loves making movies and entertaining people, within the confines of his capacity as a showman (the term ‘hack’ should be reserved for Michael Bay).

The Trailer for “MANT!”

Profiled like Alfred Hitchcock, the cigar-chomping Woolsey presents his preview for his cheerful creature feature titled Mant with the same dry humor and zest that The Master of Suspense did with his trailers. The way Woolsey presents the magazines that prove his cheap horror film is based on scientific fact is priceless. Watching this scene, compared to the bottom-line advertising tactics of films over the past few decades, one realizes filmmakers like Woolsey, whose gusto approach to making movies fun, are a dying breed. The only recent example I can think of is Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse (2007). Dante never condescends but celebrates Woolsey the same way Tim Burton did for Ed Wood (1994) — Ed D. Wood Jr., director of Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) and Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love (1971), was recognized as the “worst filmmaker of all time!”, which does deserve some reverence.

“You see, people come into your cave with a two hundred year old carpet.”

When I wrote that some films with great scenes are hard to choose from, case in point, here’s another one. Woolsey is accompanied by Gene, a young man not a mile away from myself, and learns some of the showman’s philosophy of movie-making. I still remember by heart the story told by Woolsey about the caveman who paints a Woolly Mammoth on his wall and figures: “Wait a minute! People are coming to see this thing! Let’s make it good!” A prime motive for how going for the jugular is more effective than subtlety (sometimes). The scene continues as Woolsey projects the point of view of any enthusiastic filmgoer’s journey through the matinee lobby and into the movie theater. Sometimes when I open the doors of a movie house with great anticipation I am inclined to call out, “Here I am! What have you got for me!”

For me, Woolsey represents a life path that is in considerable reach: an enthusiastic moviemaker touring far and wide in the pursuit of entertaining people. Another bonus is being accompanied by a sexy dry-wit like the one Woolsey takes along for the ride played by Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull, the REAL Best Picture Winner of 1980). Other idealistic life paths include being a productive yet reclusive painter living in a New York apartment I could barely afford, or becoming a womanizing journalist who drinks too many highballs. This charming comedy about young love and B-Movies is highly recommended. Though I have been deprived of the experience for now, I believe, like Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the classic Matinee would benefit viewing on the big screen. Or, at the very least, a deluxe Criterion release.

“Matinee” Trailer

© 2008 – 2010, CINELATION | Film Reviews by Christopher Beaubien. All rights reserved.

There are some movies that are the sum of their parts which require repeat viewings entirely. And then there are some movies that only have one scene that demand repeat viewings. Sometimes even bad movies can possess one scene that makes the venture almost worthwhile. Emphasis on sometimes.

The selection for my “Scene To Be Seen” today comes from Wes Craven’s 1986 horror-teen-romance The Deadly Friend — a cheerfully gory film that goes like this: Paul is a brilliant, scientific young man (Matthew Laborteaux, Little House on the Prairie, 1976-1983) who resurrects his murdered would-be girlfriend Samantha (Kristie Swanson, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986) using advanced robotics. Unfortunately, his corpse-crush goes haywire and targets the nasty old wench played by Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma From the Train, 1987) who lives across the street.

How malicious is this hag? She makes Mrs. Deagle look like Mrs. Claus. First she snatches a basketball away from our hero because it was on her property. And then (get this!) she opens fire using a double-barrel rifle on BB, Paul’s ultra-cool, talking robot he spent years constructing. And the robot was voiced by Charles (Roger Rabbit) Fleischer! Double-bitch!

Now put on your raincoat and watch the freaky comeuppance Samantha the Zombie Queen delivers to the evil crone! You’ll never think of shooting hoops the same way again!

Fair Warning: Not for The Squeamish.

If my brief synopsis piques your interest, I’d recommend a rental. It’s doesn’t attain the perfection of great trash like Re-Animator (1985) but you could do a hell of a lot worse. Director Wes Craven was disappointed though; he had intended to make a H.P. Lovecraft inspired romance but the studio made him cut back on the love and shoot more gore. Pity. This explains the weird hell-with-logic-for-the-sake-of-a-BOO! ending in the morgue. Then again, any excuse for a scare is a good one.

“BB!”

© 2008 – 2010, CINELATION | Film Reviews by Christopher Beaubien. All rights reserved.