Lost in the movies

Have you ever felt totally lost when travelling in a foreign country? Like the two protagonists in the movie, Lost in Translation, the huge cultural differences we encounter can make us feel completely out of it.

The Japanese have complained that Sofia Coppola, the film's writer and director, has depicted Tokyo as a weird city filled with strange people doing strange things. But, it's only by exaggerating the differences, that the movie's theme can develop and the two main characters become lost.

What really touched me about the Oscar-winning screenplay is the relationship between an older man, Bob, and a younger woman, Charlotte. Both are from LA, but back home they probably wouldn't have noticed each other. It's only in faraway Tokyo that the two lost souls come together.

They are both lost in another way too, feeling uncertain about their relationships with their respective partners. Charlotte's photographer husband, who she's joined on an assignment to Japan, has adjusted effortlessly to his new environment and she no longer recognises the man she married. And Bob, whose wife bombards him via fax with decisions about floor tiles, feels he doesn't understand his spouse any more. Together the two puzzled souls, Bob and Charlotte, explore Tokyo and help cheer each other up.

Viewers can really feel a special bond developing between the pair. I think, in each other, they have found their true companion but their existing relationships and the generation gap keep them from taking the next step.

Coppola succeeds in making us feel as lost as her characters - we can see the strength of their connection up there on the screen but are at a loss to describe it in words.