Lost in Translation

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Lost in Translation's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Lost in Translation completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 22 January 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

Lost in Translation is the story of two kindred spirits who find each other at the wrong time in an unfamiliar place. The missing translations from Japanese to English and back make for some very funny scenes and Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson are both excellent in their roles. As such it is very entertaining for adults.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Lost in Translation contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Bob Harris is a jaded, middle-aged movie star who goes to Tokyo to do a TV advertisement for whisky. The conversation between himself and the television crew has to be interpreted and a lot of it is “lost in translation” with comic results. At the hotel he is staying in, Bob meets Charlotte, a fellow American and a philosophy graduate who is in Tokyo with her husband John. John is a photographer, who is in Tokyo for a photo shoot. He’s a fairly shallow person who doesn’t understand his wife’s need to find answers to life. Charlotte on the other hand, is a deep thinker looking for spiritual meaning to her life. She visits Buddhist temples, listens to self-improvement tapes and attends talks on reincarnation.

John’s commitments take him away for a time and while he’s away Charlotte and Bob, who are attracted to each other, become friends. Bob is ‘taking a break from his wife’ and Charlotte admires his sense of humour and his ‘laissez-faire’, more mature approach to life. Together they enjoy the Tokyo night life and each other’s company, however they’re both aware that there is probably no future for their relationship.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is just one violent scene in this movie. Bob and Charlotte are in a Tokyo bar when an altercation breaks out; the barman starts shooting with what appears to be a sub-machine gun (but is really an automatic pellet gun) and throws bottles at the patrons who all run out of the bar.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

The above scene would frighten children in this age group.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

The above scene could frighten children in this age group.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

The above scene might still frighten some children in this age group.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie:

• Bob spends the night with a club singer though this is not actually shown, just implied.
• Bob and Charlotte spend the night together fully dressed, no sex.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie including the following:

• Charlotte appears in see-through underwear revealing her buttocks
• A massage girl/prostitute is sent to Bob’s room and demands that he rip her stockings. When he’s not interested she falls on the floor kicking her legs in the air revealing bare thighs and pulls Bob on top of her.
• There is a topless dancer in a nightclub wearing only a G-string and stockings. She lies on her back and spreads her legs.

Use of substances

There is quite a lot of drinking and smoking in this movie.

Coarse language

There is a little coarse language including the following:

• Oh my God
• For Christ’s sake.

The movie's message

The take home message is that it takes a lot of work on both parties to make a relationship work. Parents may wish to discuss with older children the concept of infidelity within relationships.