I have always wondered why anyone could have liked the Oscar Award Winning film Lost in Translation, which I always thought would be bettered titled Sofia Coppola Thinks Japanese Are Weird. I found it to be an almost intolerably shallow and self-centered film. Some of the "deep thoughts" I was taught by the film include:
- Look Japanese go to weird strip clubs that make Sofia feel uncomfortable.
- When in one of the most exciting cities in the world, it is best to stay in your hotel room and mope.
- Even your Japanese friends are weird.
- Bill Murray is a good enough actor to make people like a poorly directed film
Bad News Bears Go To Japan showed a more sympathetic and subtle representation of Japanese culture than Lost in Translation. In fact, if you seen Lick the Star you see that the themes of Translation are pretty much the same as those of Star, namely alienation and loneliness. Translation was directed at the same slow, dull, pace as Star and I have never thought that drawn out and boring meant subtle. The Academy obviously disagreed.
When I first saw a preview for Antoinette, I was watching Tristan and Isolde, I burst out laughing at how absurd the film was advertised to be. What I saw was a pretentious couple of minutes of direction in the style of Star that was supposed to be about Marie Antoinette. I guess my imaginings of the film were not far off base, given the reaction at Cannes. I don't know. I'll have to see for myself. The question is whether the "rollicking rock-n-roll" soundtrack is enough to get me to see it in the theater or whether I will wait for Netflix.
Hmm...I wonder if this film will be about a young woman who feels alienated and alone?
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