Paul Dechant on Lost in Translation

Paul is another one of our talented producers/editors/engineers. He's also a movie buff and fancies himself a filmmaker. He's also Casey's roommate and a great guy. Listen in today as we talk about his movie crush, Lost in Translation. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hey, everybody, welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview edition. Chuck
here and I'm singing, so that means I enjoyed this
episode quite a bit. Actually, that's not what that means,
because I never sing and I've loved all the episodes.
But just trust me, this is a good one. UM.
I had Paul from the office in. Paul Deckett is
one of the great editor, engineer producers here that works

(00:46):
with us. He's been around us for a long time,
back when we're still doing video. Is what Paul did
because he's a filmmaker at heart, and UM works in
the visual medium more UM. But like the rest of
the crew, they saw the writing on the wall and
started doing podcasts so they could keep their job. And uh,
but Paul is a filmmaker. He's actually um finishing up

(01:07):
his movie right now that he's been making for a
while on the sly and and Guerrilla style as an
indie filmmaker. I have a lot of respect for Paul
for doing that. UM. Very very cool to see. UM.
Paul and and the rest of the staff who I
used to think of as just kids, but honestly, they're
all big grown ups now and it's happened right before
my very eyes. And Paul is just the nicest guy, Um,

(01:31):
someone who's taste I really think a lot of and
that's why I asked him to be on the show,
and he picked Lost in Translation, the Sofia Coppola Dare
I Say New classic, which is also one of my
favorite movies. So it was a great pleasure to talk
to Paul, and I think you're gonna enjoy yourselves. So
here we go with Paul decint on Lost in Translation.

(01:55):
I watched this last night for like the I feel
like tenth time maybe more. Yeah, I fucking love this movie.
Me too. I've I've probably seen it about ten or
twelve times. Yeah, it had been a minute for me though.
Um It's one of Emily's favorites do so she was
all in last night. She had watched it more recently
than me. But it occurred to me that I don't

(02:19):
think I've seen this since I had my kid, because
I got really like moved when he was and well,
you know this is jumping way ahead, but like at
that scene where they're laying in bed together and he's
talking about having children and how they grow up, you know,
all of a sudden they're the most delightful people you've
ever met or whatever, and I just like like fucking
broke down. I was like, wait a minute, I haven't

(02:41):
seen this since I had Ruby. Yeah, and that that's
a great probably one of the best scenes in the movie. Um, well,
it's it's it's interesting to the that very first shot
of the movie of Scarlett Johansson's but yes, what a
way to open this movie. Yeah, it's so. I do
want to talk about that shot actually, because um, yeah,

(03:05):
it's a it's a very bold way to open a movie,
and yet it's also a very subtle shot, I think.
And um, in doing some research on it, I read
that um Sofia Coppolate director Sofia Coppola was inspired by
this artist named John Casair, who paints. If you google him, basically,
all the images that come up are paintings of women's

(03:26):
butts in like lingerie. Uh. But it's interesting because those
images are very sexualized intentionally, whereas the shot that opens
the movie is somehow I don't know if it's completely desexualized,
but it doesn't feel like that's the intent. It feels
much more like intimate. Um and just like you're seeing

(03:50):
just somebody laying in their underwear. Yeah, and she's also
kind of it's a beautiful shot and then sounds so creepy.
It has nothing to do with the butt. She's also
setting up sort of a color palette there, I think,
because that same pink kind of comes in a lot
throughout the movie. Um. Most notably that I can remember

(04:11):
is when she's built those uh mobiles in her room,
in her hotel room, because yeah, because everything is so
cold and sort of stark in that hotel, Like there's
I've been to a couple of like high end hotels
that are just so unwelcoming, and I feel like that
really served this movie to have them sort of in

(04:32):
this expensive prison almost Ye. And she's doing everything she
can Scarlett Johansson or Charlotte I guess, to try and
bring a little color into that like white room. Yeah.
And I think one of my favorite things about Sofia
Coppola this movie and her others is her use of
color and color palettes and just visual aesthetics. And she

(04:54):
has a great eye for um. But one one of
other interesting sort of anecdote about that shot of Scarlett
your hand but is um in interviews. Uh, Sofia Coppola
said when they were shooting that that Scarlett jo Hanson
was very apprehensive about doing that shot, and Sofia Coppola
said to her, I'm going to try these under this

(05:15):
under pair of underwear on and kind of lay there
and afterwards, if you still feel uncomfortable, we we won't
do the shot. And so Sofia Coppola tried them on
and modeled them in front of Scarlets Johnson, and after
that Scarlett was like, Okay, I'll do it. And that's
just I think points to something about this being a
movie from directed by a woman who you know if

(05:37):
I'm obviously if the man directed it, you probably wouldn't
have that sort of yeah, and it would certainly probably
you know, get crushed. It was released today. Absolutely we'll
talk about some of that stuff too, obviously, um and
you know it goes right her use of music, you know,
we'll talk about for sure, But that very first music
cue of death in Vegas when he's it's such an

(06:01):
efficient set up. And I've talked a lot on the
show about efficiency of set up of character and plot
and motivations, and this is one of the best, like
almost dialogue or at least exposition free setups. In that
first like five or six minutes, you know everything you
need to know about both of them. Um, because he's

(06:22):
bored in this cab, stranger in a strange land. He's
getting it feels like almost assaulted by all these people
welcoming him. And he's being very kind, but you can
tell he's a man out of place. He's taller than everyone.
The shower is too low. Uh. And then her with
with Giovanni Ribisi um a k a. Spike Jones supposedly

(06:44):
I and I think Giovanni Ribisi is maybe the unsung
m VP of this movie. He's just so good. It's
kind of that. I mean, he's not gross, he's not
a total asshole, but he's just kind of the Yeah,
I don't know what is it. My brother used to
call those guys l A guys. There was a name
that he used to to say for something that they

(07:05):
used to say a lot, like how are you doing
or something like that. I can't remember, but he's one
of those guys. And the way he's then we'll get
to the scenes where he's just like pawing all over
her and it's just and she's grossed out by him,
and and then the way he's like, hey, I gotta
gotta go. Yeah, like scattered, like the scattered artist or whatever.
But you know everything about both of them, like she's lost,

(07:28):
they're both lost. Uh. And I was really hit me
last night, even though I've seen this movie so many
times too, when I watch them for these shows that
you really study it, Um, it's interesting how they're the same,
They're the same place in life at two different stages
in life, Like she's young and doesn't know what she
wants to do, and he has hit that point where

(07:50):
he's been through his whole career and now he feels
stuck and doesn't know what to do. Absolutely, And I
think watching it this time, for me, every time I
watched this movie, I always sort of I get nervous
and I'm like, is this gonna hold up? Is this
going to be as good as I always remembered it?
And it always is. But what what stood out to
me watching at this time was how one of the

(08:11):
big themes of this movie is just being stuck in
a marriage for both of them, like you said, at
different points, and how they kind of both can relate
to that and they kind of get something from each
other in their brief week in Tokyo, and I like
to think that maybe after their time together, they kind
of go back to their lives and maybe it's like

(08:34):
they've recharged their batteries a little bit, and maybe things
will be a little bit better in their marriage. I
don't know. Maybe it's a little too optimistic, but well,
we'll certainly unpack like what happens after they embrace at
the end, because this is one of those movies where
it's not just like, oh, well, that's over, like you
can't help but think about these characters and they're stuck nous.

(08:55):
And she even says literally in that in that same
scene at the end, she literally as out loud, I'm stuck.
And I don't remember her saying that. Last night. I
was like, oh my god, she that's the That's the
whole movie right there. She's stuck. And Emily and I
had a great um not debate, but just discussion over whether,

(09:16):
like how much she loves her husband or like does
she want to leave him? And her contention is that, like, yes,
she does love him, but it feels like all of
a sudden she doesn't know who he is, Yeah, I
I would agree with that, and I think she's hoping
to sort of get something more from him, especially in

(09:37):
this time, their time in Tokyo, and he's not giving it.
And then of course when Anna Faris is uh ditzy
movie star picture a Cameron Diaz right, supposedly that just
pulls her, pulls him further away from her. And you
can see there's a great scene where he's about to
like run out of the hotel room to go to work,
where he gives her this kiss kind of just like

(09:58):
meant to be, just like I'll see you later. But
the way she sort of latches on and just wants
that intimacy, you can tell she's really at a crossroads
with not knowing where she's going to go with this marriage. Yeah,
in marriage, And I feel like, uh so, what does
she have a philosophy degree? We like, what do we

(10:18):
actually know about her? She has a philosophy degree, and
she's not working. She's not working. She says she grew
up in New York and that she moved to l
A when they her and John, her husband, got married,
and how she feels that's when she's laying in the
bed with Bill Murray. He asks where'd you grow up?
And all this? How much happens in that scene A

(10:39):
lot of a lot of actually exposition as well that
you don't even think about because it's done so well.
But uh, yeah, so she lives in l A now
and she's not really an l A person like her
husband is. She's much more of that sort of East
Coasts academic. Maybe that's the way I kind of read it. Well,
she would to Yale, right, Yeah, she went to Yale

(11:01):
because he takes a dig at her. Not everybody went
to Yale, you know, to make everyone feel so stupid,
and in that scene, like he actually kind of has
a point. No, he totally does. Like you know, we're
not totally on her side there, right, she is kind
of sort of turning up her nose at at somebody
who's not as smart as her. Yeah, but she also
you also sort of get it. Oh yeah. It's a

(11:23):
very subtle film, I think, and like, there are many
ways to read it, and I love that she doesn't.
I just think Sophia Couple was great. I know she
gets a lot of ship from people, and I never
have quite gotten that because I've I've loved all her movies.
Loved Virgin Suicides, loved this Um, loved Marie Antoinette. I

(11:44):
loved Somewhere Me too, liked Blingering a lot. That's probably
my least favorite, but I've only seen it once and
I want to I want to revisit it. We were
just saying that last night, like, we need to see
that movie again. Did you see the Beguild? I did. Uh,
that's probably my lead his favorite. I like what she
did there, but I know that movie is problematic for
a lot of reasons too, so it's hard to bring

(12:05):
that in there. Um. I don't know, man, I think
she's great. She won the Best Screenplay Award for this. Yeah,
it was nominated for a Director and picture too, And yes,
and Bill Murray was at the Oscars nominated for Best Actors.
Didn't win won that. I actually looked this up. It
was Sean Penn for Cold Mountain. I think Cold Mountain?

(12:26):
Is that right? Or no? Sorry? Mric Rivers. It's either
Cold Mountain or Mr. River, which I I haven't seen,
so I don't have you seen? Yeah? Mr Rivers great
and Sean Penn is always great. I don't know that
Bill Murray so good in this. I mean, this is
the role of his career, in a career that's had
many great roles. Yeah, it feels like this is him

(12:47):
in a lot of ways, Like especially in that you
know again, that bedroom scene where he's talking about his
marriage and how it used to be fun. Uh and
then the kids came and she doesn't come around to
set anymore, And like, um, I know that Bill Murray
has had a lot of regrets in real life as
like a working father that's been away for too long. Um.

(13:10):
And it's hard not to think, but it's probably some
of Sophia Coppela in there too, you know. Yeah, he's
definitely bringing a lot of himself to that to the role,
into that scene in particular, and the choice to make
the choice to make the reason he's they're a big
actor doing a Japanese commercial is just perfect, so because
we know what that means. Yeah, it's it's great. I

(13:31):
was just reading about this about the idea of American
celebrities or actors doing advertisements in other countries, especially Japan
and other countries in Asia. It's huge. It's huge, and
especially back in the day, you would see this a
lot because they didn't want to do these at campaign
in America because they were worried about it would hurt
their image or they would be seen as selling out.

(13:52):
But they could go to Japan and do it and
nobody would ever see it and sat people in Japan.
And so it's so great Clune he has done it,
Red Pits done, Brad Pitts done. When. So I've been
to Japan a couple of times. Last time I was there,
I saw Tommy Lee Jones's face everywhere and he was
doing this ad campaign for It was called Boss and
it was this sort of canned coffee that you would

(14:13):
see in vending machines and stuff. And you see just
see Tommy Lee Jones face on all these vending machines
and it was just like what he made millions of
dollars for this. Yes, and also the budgets for these
ad campaigns in Japan are huge. So when when Bill
Murray says in the movie, I'm getting paid paid two
million dollars from Dorsey Whiskey, that's not unrealistic that they
would pay him that much. That ship that might be

(14:33):
on the low side, Yeah, totally, Um, where did you
go in Japan? So I've been to Japan three times. Actually, man,
that's great. The main reason is because my older brother
lived there for five years and so he taught he
was teaching English in Japan, and so I went and
visited him a couple of times, and so I've I've
kind of been all over. I've been to Tokyo, uh Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagasaki.

(14:59):
It's great. I love I would go back in a heartbeat.
It's interesting. Tokyo is great, but I actually love all
the other areas of Japan moreau. Tokyoto is awesome, Kyoto
is beautiful. It was the ancient capital of Japan before Tokyo,
and uh Tokyo is great, but it's also kind of
just like another gigantic city. That being said though, in

(15:19):
laws and translation, I love the way she shoots Tokyo
just that Probably seeing that movie when I was younger
made me want to go to Japan more than anything. Yeah,
I mean, there's so many beautiful shots of the city.
And it's interesting that I feel like he he's in
that hotel, he's hotel bound until he meets her. He's
not going out, he's going to the pool, He's going

(15:41):
to the bar every night and doing this various obligations.
But when he meets her, the world literally opens up
and they go out and they have that big fun night,
which will go over in detail for sure um later,
But uh, she's out and about, she's going on her adventure.
She is making an effort to sort of, ye see
the city a little bit. It's her journey. I feel

(16:02):
like though, I feel like she's she's not just sight seeing,
you know, it feels bigger than that. Absolutely yeah. And
and she even says, you know, I went to this
trying today and there was the monks chanting, and I
didn't feel anything. And I think she's is that when
she breaks down and cries on the phone with her
friend from home. Yeah, and it's a great scene, but
she's definitely trying to get something out of this trip

(16:23):
for herself. Yeah. Absolutely. Um. And then you know, it's
just such a funny movie too, Like it's easy to
overlook the funny scenes like the Santori commercial and the
Santory photo shoot. It's just so funny. Man so great
that director when he's he'll go off for like a
minute straight and she'll be like, you know, the translator

(16:44):
will say, like, you know, more intensity He's like, what
is that all he said? Because it feels like he's
saying a lot more than that. Yeah, it's the way
he calls action and camera rolling everything like screaming it.
It's just so good. It's great because you know, if
you you can look up on mine what the translation
of what the director is actually saying, people have translated
it and um. But basically it's a very real situation

(17:08):
because the there's the interpreter who's translating for for Bill
Murray and for the director, and the way she's sort
of asking Bill Murray's questions to director is in this
very polite, very formal way, which is why the sentences
get sounds five times as long. And so Bill Murray's
question might be should I turn from the left or

(17:28):
to the right, And she's probably asking the director, you know, uh,
Mr Bob Harris has a question for you would like
to know if you think it would be better for
him to turn for the left or from the right,
and what do you think is the best something like
that just draw you know, and just Murray is so
funny in that scene, like so much that I didn't
I didn't do a ton of research on this on

(17:48):
the background, but about what was improv and what wasn't
you sort of feel it when it's happening. I think
in the movie, um, obviously things like the hospital waiting
room scene, yeah, you know, are improv um. But Emily
last night was like, did she hurt her foot in
real life? She was like, I bet you anything she
got really got hurt. And they decided to shoot all

(18:09):
this hospital stuff and I was like, I bet that
wasn't all made up that So I can speak to
this a little bit. I've read the script. Actually the
script you can find it online and just google it. Uh.
The script is a very loose script compared to most
film scripts. The toe thing where she hurts her toe
is in the script, but many of the scenes in

(18:31):
the script there might be one or two scripted lines
of dialogue. And then in this in the actual movie,
you can tell Bill Murray especially is just riffing. But
there's other scenes where it's great where in the script,
like when they go eat uh, they go eat sushi,
and the line in the script just says they eat sushi.
He makes her laugh and then that's all you've got.

(18:53):
Bill Murray like, why script too much? Like for him?
And and I gonna write jokes for him. Yeah, and
and Sofia Coppolis said she wrote the part for Bill
Murray and she wouldn't have made the movie if he
wasn't going to agree to do it, which I mean, yeah,
you can't imagine anyone else in this role. No, of
course not. Um. And for those of you listening that

(19:14):
don't know this, it's I'm sure you know this, but
Bill Murray very famously does not have an agent. And
the way he works is there is a phone number. Um,
I don't even know if it's a cell phone number.
I get the landline. I read somewhere it's like an
eight number. It is some some phone number, and it's
not even widely distributed, so like to even get this
phone number, it's tough. And then you call this number

(19:38):
and you leave a message saying what you who you are,
and what the project this is. And Bill Murray here's
that and makes a decision on whether or not to
call you back. And that is how he fucking works.
And that's a very how great is that unorthodox way
of working? Like? How great is that? Yeah? And so
and so for this movie, I read that, Um, Sofia

(19:59):
Coppola tried to track him down. She called the number,
she couldn't track him down. Eventually she enlisted This is
I'm granted this is back then, but it's still Francis
work couple's daughter, right, Yeah, she's she's connected, Yeah, exactly.
Eventually she enlisted Wes Anderson to help her, West, who
had at this point directed Murray and Rushmore and ten
and Bombs, so they were they were probably already good friends.

(20:20):
And eventually, through this, through him through something, she tracked
him down. She met him, she pitched him on the movie,
and he agreed to do the movie, but he never
signed a contract, so he just gave her like I
think I heard a gentleman's agreement, saying I'll do it.
And in fact, they didn't know if he was going
to show up, and so he like landed in Tokyo.

(20:43):
And I read somewhere that Sofia Coppola was freaking out
about this, and she talked to Wes Anderson, and West
basically calmed her down and said, if Bill, if Bill
says he's gonna do it, he'll do it, man, which
is just great. Yeah, that's pretty great. Man. Another thing

(21:03):
I thought was so funny and so appropriate was her
use of the home renovation going on back in State
Side as sort of just a vehicle, and it's as
a bit of symbolism. I think of his detachment, like
he's getting these facts. Is in the middle of the night. Uh.
Did you notice his wife's stationary by the way it

(21:25):
would come through and his wife's name I think was
was Lydia Lydia Harris. But it says at the top
of the station stationary Lydia Harris and it has a
picture of that um optical illusion of the old lady
young lady of like which is it? And that's her stationary,
which is so it's such a beautiful little minute touch

(21:48):
of like art direction on this movie. Um. But anyway,
he's getting these uh, these carpet samples and ship or
tile samples in the mail and these decisions he has
to make, and it really just sort of for some
reason makes that disconnect so much more real and mundane. Uh.
And then you know he comes and I've Emily and

(22:10):
I are super connected, but like when I was in Australia, Ah,
it's hard to not feel like you feel further away,
especially yeah, because he comes home like drunk from that
night out and she very specifically mentions breakfast. She's feeding
the kid breakfast, and I've been there and known that,

(22:31):
Like funk man, I'm having a hard time connecting with
Emily from Australia because I'm having this big adventure. She's
at home with with Ruby and we're tight, and it
was still like, uh, something we had to overcome. And
you know, it's just for a week and a half,
but like you really felt that in this marriage that
you know, and he has that talk when he's drunk

(22:53):
about the tile that's just so like, this's the saddest
scene in the movie. I think, you know the Burgundy one.
You're just so right, like wasn't even close and he's
like falling asleep and he's drunk and it's so sad.
He's like I was listening to the great music. I
gotta find out what that music was when I was
out tonight. Yeah, and like I want to start eating
more like Japanese style, and then she's just like, yeah,

(23:15):
I'm glad you're having a good time. Yeah. It's just
such a sad scene and you know, in some respects
were meant to sort of empathize with with Bob, you know,
and she's just like he couldn't care less about the
color of the tiles and all this stuff. But it
doesn't put us entirely on his side because like you
get why his wife is is feeling that way, like

(23:37):
you're off, I have to go. I have to stay
here and do the work of the marriage. When you
get yeah, and you get to go off galvant ing
to another country and talk about how it's changing you
and you want to eat healthier, and it's and he's
going out with this young girl. Yeah, like we'll we'll
get into the sexuality or lack of. Um. Well, fun,
let's talk about it now, because Emily and I talked

(23:58):
a lot about it, and I think that maybe what
the movie is about in a lot of ways. So
for me rewatching it the other night, the biggest thing
that stood out to me maybe was it's a lot
less platonic. Then I remembered in the sense that there's
a lot of I think a lot of sexual tension there.
Obviously they don't act on it. What do you think, man?

(24:20):
I was going back and forth like we I think
we both agreed that their friendship was what mattered to
them and like, I don't think anyone in the audience
was like, oh, like, they're gonna bone it's gross to
even think about. I think because they they seem like
they needed each other as friends. But watching it, I agree,

(24:42):
Like watching it last night, it was way more flirty
than I remember. Uh. I don't know, man, It landed
somewhere between like father daughter, and it never felt predatory.
He's always very respectful. Um, but in two thousand eighteen,
it's a different lens than two thousand four of a

(25:03):
man in power. Um, I don't know, man, I think
they kissed, Yeah, they kissed. I think for me, it's there.
They seem to both realize that there's a little unspoken tension,
but they both sort of have made this decision that
they're not going to to let it go any further
than that. I agree, And and the movie and the

(25:23):
relationship is all the better for it, And I think
they probably feel better as people for it. Yeah. There,
we're not gonna be like everyone else who might be
in the situation. Yeah, And and it it took a change,
like it feels very platonic until he sleeps with a
lounge singer and then from that moment on she's clearly
a little jealous and treats him a little differently, and

(25:47):
they had that horrible lunch together. But then it was
almost like their first little fight. And then later that
day they see each other, Oh oh no at the
fire alarm fire. She's just like that lunch or a
bad lunch, which is a great way to concil. Yeah,
I think they both felt kind of silly. It seemed
like there was an understanding there of like, yeah, you
were kind of jealous, and he was a bit a

(26:07):
bit embarrassed. I think of having and ashamed of having
slept with that that he's great by the way, walking
he wakes up and he just hears her singing midnight
at the oasis, like spraying perfume and shit, it's so great.
But just just one other thought on that is after

(26:29):
they sort of reconciled and they're hanging out at the
bar that night and they say how they don't want
the night to end, and then they're in the elevator
together and he's gonna go to his room, she's gonna
go to her room, and the elevator stops, the doors open,
and they give each other that sort of polite kiss
where it's it's meant to be on the cheek, but
it's very close to the lips, and you both you
can very much sense that they are very aware of

(26:51):
what's happened, like of how that kiss is going down.
And of course they take so long that the door
shut and he misses his floor and then they opened
for her floor and then they kind of repeat the
polite kissing. Ye. So yeah, I would, I would. I
would argue that there's definitely some tension there. Yeah, And
it's um, even if that is what it's about, like

(27:12):
that that's real and those sexual politics are palpable in
real life. The age disparity is what makes it a thing. Um,
I don't know, man, it's a it's a movie that
and that's what I love about it is every time
you see it, you can kind of think something different
about it. Yeah, and I think it kind of it

(27:35):
lives in some of those ambiguities for sure of of
not just if they're sexual tension or not, but just
everything about the movie kind of losing that ambiguous area
where you can you can read into it what you
want based on what you're bringing to the film. Yeah,
But even even with the ambiguity. There's even seeing it
again last night, there was never a feeling of like, oh, well,

(27:56):
this is a Hollywood star that is looking to move
on this young girl. No know. I agree, and you know,
especially the way they sort of first have a real
conversation down at the bar where he's there drinking that
he can't sleep. She comes down and she sits next
to him when they first meet, when they first have
their first conversation, thirty minutes in man, that first plot point,

(28:16):
I love. The three x structure is so great. I
always look at my watch, I'm like, yep, thirty minutes.
But but it's great too because that's their first conversation
and it never feels especially there, there's nothing beyond just
sort of them commiserating about feeling out of place and
not being able to sleep. And that way you can
sort of, especially when you're traveling, I feel like it's

(28:38):
easy to really connect with a stranger because you're both
in a situation you're not used to and it's easy
to sort of open up to somebody you don't know. Yeah,
and especially within being in Japan, like this would have
been a different movie than if they were l a
people just in New York for the Week. Absolutely, the
setting was so key and Sofia Coppola. To me, it's

(29:01):
so like she's one of the masters that evoking a
tone and a feeling of a place without dialogue. And
I just I don't know, man, I think a lot
of her. I think a lot of her talents as
a filmmaker. I think she's not very obvious. Yeah, it's
it's really funny the way you said that, because in

(29:21):
my little notes here I wrote Coppola is a master
at capturing a mood. That's exactly what I wrote. Well, hey,
we're both right then, yes, um, if we're well, well
we should talk about funny scenes a little more. Another
great scene. And these funny scenes don't advance the story.
I think they're just in there to sort of again

(29:42):
stranger in a strange land when they when that, I
guess she's a sex worker or masseuse. Yeah, like what
she was sent there by somebody to please him? Yeah?
Where did she just find him? I think she was
sort of sent there by maybe one of the the
client people. Yeah, I think so, uh, yeah, it's meant

(30:07):
to I don't know how that experience is meant to
play out if it's I don't know if she's actually
meant to sleep with the guy or just sort of
give him a sort of sensual massage and flirt with
him or what. Yeah, and that was such a weirdly
specific thing. It made me think that that Sofia Coppla
heard that story or maybe Bill Murray told a story
about it or something. Yeah, I think there are a

(30:28):
couple of scenes like that. It was like, this has
probably happened. Yeah, a lot of it feels like it's
based on real experience, either Sofia Coppola or stuff she heard,
or or maybe stuff from her dad, because uh there,
I've I've read that some of this stuff was based
on well even just going to Japan to shoot a
some tore whiskey ad. I believe Francis Ford Coppola maybe

(30:49):
did that. Yeah, but um but yeah, that scene it
makes me laugh. But it is one of those scenes
where it it's a little uncomfortable, the whole lit my
Stockings thing in and we'll get into this as well,
but sort of the well let's talk about it now,
let's talk about it. Yeah, So this movie is problematic
in some ways. It is problematic, and it when it

(31:10):
came out, it was a pretty big hit with American critics,
but a lot of the Japanese critics did not like
the movie because of the way it portrayed the Japanese characters.
In that they argued that, you know, it's very stereotypic,
maybe at best stereotypical and at worst flat out racist. Yeah,
I mean, there is a thing of like the Far
East being weird and exotic and crazy, and they're like, no,

(31:34):
it's just us and the way we live, and you
shouldn't look at everything through Western eyes. We're not weird
because we eat these things that you think are strange,
Like that's an American way of looking at things. Absolutely, yeah,
And and other writers critics in the years since have
written American critics to have written about how about these

(31:55):
problematic aspects? So it's it's very much there. And I
would never sort of disagree with somebody who brought this
up because I think it's a valid criticism, criticism of
the movie. And I think, you know, in some sense,
the film is from the point of view of Bob
and Charlotte and their experience, and so there is some

(32:16):
truth to the idea of this culture shock that they're
experiencing where everything feels so different, and I think that's
a very valid thing, especially going to a country that's
so different like Japan. But where I think the movie
maybe falters a little bit is that it never sort
of critiques that worldview, and it never sort of separates

(32:38):
itself from that very specific point of view, where it
never sort of relativizes there the way that the fact
that they're looking at this country through Western eyes and
maybe you know, how do the Japanese feel about these
Westerns coming into the country, you know? Yeah, But also like,
now that I think about it, it's not like she

(33:00):
goes off on all these adventures to all these just beautiful,
peaceful places and it's such first of all, it's just
such a great contrast as a filmmaker between that in
the city, Um, she scrgeous, slow, quiet, peaceful things that
she does, um, but she never comes back and it's
like these things so funked up. It was so weird,

(33:20):
and they were like, like, I feel like she's there's
a lot of reverence on her part and genuine interests,
So it doesn't feel like she's um, it doesn't feel
like she's like this this place is so strange. I
feel like she kind of loves it in some ways. Yeah,
and I would Yeah, I would argue that there's nothing

(33:41):
sort of malicious in the film, yeah from Sofia Copple, Like,
it's clear that you know, Sofia Copple had had been
to Japan many times and a lot of this was
based on her experiences in Japan. Yeah, parts of it
feel like a love letter to Japan. Absolutely. Yeah, but
it is true that you know, these two characters are
only in Tokyo for a week, so they're never going
to get more than sort of a tourist's impression of

(34:05):
Tokyo and of Japan, very surface level. Yeah, but I
would also argue that, you know, the criticisms about the
way the movie portrays the Japanese people, again valid criticisms.
But I also think it's important to remember that, you know, film,
it's a visual medium, and so much of the argument
Coppola is making here is through her visuals. And so

(34:28):
the movie shoots Tokyo in such a loving way, and
I think especially those scenes where they have their night out,
where they go to the party where they sing karaoke,
and suddenly the city seems transformed because suddenly Bob and
Charlotte are opening themselves up to the city and for
the first time they're together and it's so vital and

(34:48):
like energetic and real. Yeah, and so you know, it's
the movie sort of opens itself up then, because the
characters are opening themselves up to Tokyo and so suddenly
this this city that cold, cold and oppressive, feels warm
and welcoming and yeah, a place they kind of fall
in love with. Yeah, and uh, if you think about it,

(35:09):
the only way that happens is through the locals. Like
she meets up with their friends, uh, and and her
husband's friends and have like this great experience. And anyone
who's ever had a um, one of those great long
nights out in a city that you've never been to
with people you've never hung out with, Like I've had

(35:30):
those nights where you're you go to fucking five bars
and you end up it's someone's apartment at four in
the morning on the roof, smoking pot and like made
these like great new best friends and they get separated
it through a lot of this night and are doing
their own thing. And I've had those moments and it's
like that's the best kind of travel experience you can have,

(35:51):
and they could only I feel like he could only
get that through her, because again he was he was
swimming in the pool and going to the bar. She
was getting out and about. But there are also so
many shots of the isolation for both of them. That one,
I mean, maybe my favorite shot in the movie, although
there's like two or three that are competing for that,

(36:12):
But when she's sitting in the window and the handheld
cameras just sort of quietly moving around her and she's
just staring at that, just miles and miles and miles
of city. Yeah, it's great, gorgeous, it's gorgeous, and yeah,
it's cinematography is beautiful. What was your favorite shot? Does

(36:32):
one jump out? That's a good question. I I do
love because there are multiple shots of her sitting in
the window during the day and at night. Probably all
of those shots kind of together, Ye are some of
my favorites. I forgot how young she was too, because
she's such a big star now. She was seventeen when
they felt this. Really, yes, she's That's weird because usually

(36:56):
you go like older plays younger, and she's playing probably
somebody in their mid twenties. Yeah, I felt like she
was probably somewhere in there. But yeah, Sofia Coppola cast
after I don't know, seeing her in something, well, it
had to have been either ghost World or Men who
Knew Too Little. Yeah, probably those are probably only a
couple of the things she had done at that point. Yeah,
but it's it's it's crazy too because she feels I think,

(37:20):
you know, part of it is Scarlett Johanson has kind
of a deeper voice, Yeah, and she definitely uses that
in this movie. Yeah, and she just feels a little
bit older, you know. Yeah, and she's just um, like
it's easy to get a crush on her, even as
like a friend crush um in this movie, because she's
sweet and friendly and for him, like it contrasts well

(37:43):
with that that great scene in the beginning with the
dicks at the bar, the business dicks that are like, oh,
you're Bob Harris and blah blah blah blah blah, we're
we're here on whatever fucking convention or something, and he's
just like he can't get out of there fast enough.
But he sees an Ally and her from the beginning,
like there's this unspoken connection before they even meet at

(38:05):
the bar. Remember they black eyes, Well, now they lack
eyes across the bar, that's right, and just sort of like, yeah,
that's right, acknowledge one another in a friendly way. Yeah,
and it's great too that but in the elevator as well. Yeah,
it's funny too. I always forget that aside from the
opening shot of Scarlette Johnson's but the movie for the
first probably ten minutes or so, just stays with Bill

(38:27):
Murray and you don't really come back to her for
a little while in the movie. And again they don't
meet until yet, like you said earlier, about thirty minutes
in Yeah, well you I love those stories too, where
I've seen this so many times now it's hard to
remember the first time, but I do kind of remember
when you're you're watching this story play out in parallel,
knowing that they're gonna meet. And I love that though,

(38:49):
because it's just like, here's this guy, here's this young woman. Uh,
they're both in the same place and they're converging. Uh,
and what is that? What's that going to look like?
Are they gonna jump in bed together? Because I don't
think they need that, they need something more than that,
Like this was all it was almost like an emotional affair. Yeah,

(39:10):
that makes sense, which is a thing like I've I've
heard other people say stuff like that, like I had
an emotional affair like that never got physical. But I
it's just as deep of a of a cheat almost
than having sex with someone, maybe more so. Yeah, you
could you could say that, you know, you know, if

(39:33):
somebody cheated and had sex with somebody, you could sort
of be like, oh, it meant nothing to me. It
was just one little thing. But where if you meet
somebody and really really connect connect, so it's much more
complicated because you it's your emotions are much more tied
up in it. Sure, Yeah, I also get that that
um one great scene in the middle of the night
when Scarlett Johansson waked. You know, he BC's laying there

(39:55):
kind of mouth breathing and half snoring, and she wakes
him up and he again just sort of grapples her
and you know, almost puts her in a chokehold, and
immediately he is back asleep and she just you know,
she has to wrangle out of that, and that's just
so emblematic of where they are, you know, Yeah, she
needs this connection with him, and you know even in

(40:16):
the middle of the night. He doesn't know what to
do except just like hold her tight. Yeah, you know,
he can't talk to her about anything. It's very sad.
He's always talking about himself. Yeah, he's so narcissistic. Yeah.
Oh man, it's kind of depressing. It's very depressing. Yeah.
But also he's so funny too, Like he's such a caricature. Yes,
I love him. And I think he mentioned earlier, but

(40:39):
based on Spike Jones, right, supposedly supposedly who Spike Jones,
the filmmaker who was married to Sophia Coppol at the time. Right, Oh,
that's right. They were married. I think they just were together.
They married, and I just looked this up. They divorced
in two thousand three, shortly after the movie came out,
And so I think, yeah, many people have said that

(41:00):
his character is based on Spike Jones, and I think
there's probably a lot of truth to that. Yeah. And
Anna Faris is so funny. I mean, she just nails
that person, that that person that's like, oh my god,
I have bos think so bad and everyone says I'm anorexic.
I'm like, thank you, but I eat so much junk food.
And then later when she's singing the piano bar, it's

(41:21):
just such a character, like such a real person, And
if it is Cameron diaz Um, I wonder how she
feels about that. It's a pretty big pot shot, I know.
You know. Also, when she's doing the press conference about
her fake action movie Midnight Velocity and it's an action
movie with Keanu Reeves, she's yeah, she said, I love

(41:44):
working with kids, have two dogs, let's live in l A.
And uh, if you watch the closing credits of the
movie and the special things, Kiana gets a special thing
just for like that little joke. Yeah, I'm sure she
probably probably like said, hey, is it okay if I
mentioned you? And he's probably he supposedly a really cool guy.
Actually I have heard that. Yeah. I had a friend
that worked with him and he said it was actually

(42:04):
kind of kind of sad because how hard he was
on himself on set with his acting. Yeah, he he
was like kind of beating himself up over how good
of a job he was doing. But just a very
great guy with cast and crew, like super generous and
just by all accounts a great dude. That makes me
happy to hear. Yeah, I love that Um. Another one

(42:26):
of my favorite shots is on their long night out
when she has the pink wig and just puts her
head and she's smoking cigarette, puts her head on his shoulder,
and then My Bloody Valentine kicks in such a great
music cue and they're in the cab again going through
like the fluorescent streets. Just so gorgeous. Yeah. Well, yeah,

(42:48):
so My Bloody Valentine one of my favorite bands. Yeah,
and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine did a few
songs for the movie, and then that My Bloody Valentine's
song is in there as well. But yeah, pretty awesome
to be able to get Kevin Shields to do some
of the music for your movie. Well, her soundtracks are
always great for use of music is just you know
this music use are awesome. It's probably my favorite soundtrack

(43:10):
of hers. Yeah for sure, Yeah, for sure. Um. The
other favorite shot is the the golf scene. Yes, so gorgeous.
So every time I watched that scene, I'm like, that
has to be like some fake screen of Mount Fuji
in the back. It looks so it's so perfect gorgeous

(43:31):
that it looks fake. It looks like a like a
top golf thing where they digitally project something in the distance.
You're playing Mount Fuji. Yeah, but it's a great shot.
And obviously Bill Murray in real life is an avid golfer.
I think he might have This might not be true,
but he might have said like, please let me do

(43:51):
some golfing in the movie, and so I could see that.
I could see that. Yeah, And so he does that.
And then you see him in his hotel room at
one point just putting you see, like a cup, you know,
and yeah, yeah, um and those like Again, that's another
scene that doesn't really advance anything, but it just evokes
a feeling again out in this great, wide open place

(44:12):
all by himself. He's not playing golf with three other people,
like usually do you see nothing but him and this
like quiet nature around him. It's really lovely. Well, maybe
let's talk some more about the bedroom scene. So it's
it's well, first of all, their big night out is great. Um,
and that felt like the paint gun thing. Yeah, that

(44:33):
felt like something that had happened before, because that would
be a weird thing to just make up and write
very oddly specific. Yeah, you know, the way like she
wasn't like oh and then these guys come in with
paint guns and start shooting and they run down the street.
And I don't quite understand if that's was that in
the script that way. I think it is actually really
I want to say it is it's like some kind
of like fluorescent BB gun or something. But I don't

(44:55):
know if I don't know what the context of if
that's like a thing or a meant to just be
like we're just having fun and we're just I don't
know how threatening that situation is meant to be. I know,
it's never really clear to me. Yeah, I think that
that had to have happened to someone that she knew.
I think it feels like a strange thing to make
up out of whole cloth. But they had their big

(45:16):
night out and then they end up, you know, back
at the hotel. He carries her to bed, and um,
that's when they like. That next six minutes is sort
of the movie when they're talking about being stuck in
their relationships and he's talking about marriage and he has
a great line, Um, the more you know who you
are and what you want, the less you let things

(45:37):
upset you. And that's such a thing that can only
come with age. And that I again, going back to
the script, some of some of the lines they say
in that scene are directly from the script, but that
line and a lot of the other ones are not
in the script. Clearly was not that line was not,
or maybe some variation of it. But and actually in

(46:01):
some interview they said that that scene in particular took
a long time to get right. They shot it, they're
trying to shoot it one night and they just couldn't
nail it. And they actually came back on a different
night and we're able to work it out. Yeah, uh huh,
but yeah, and and uh the line about you know,
kids being the most delightful thing in the world and

(46:22):
you want to be with him, it's so beautiful. But
at the same time, it's it's weird because he says that,
and yet he's also willfully not being with his family,
and so it's it's it's kind of sad. It's sort
of like he's having this realization, but he's also not
doing the thing he should be doing. And and his wife,

(46:44):
I mean, she's just saying the most brutal, brutal things,
like to wound him because she's mad. She's lashing out
like they're they're you know, he they're used to you
not being around anyway or something like that. Yeah, tough stuff,
And it is interesting that, like it is you'd love
this character, he's so great and everything, but like, how
can you not feel for his wife who you never

(47:06):
see and you only hear this voice like kind of
the way she pops up throughout the script, it's like
so strategic. Um, I'd be interested to go back and
look at like what immediately precedes each moment where you
hear from her, you know. Yeah. One probably my favorite
of the conversations he has is when he's in the

(47:30):
the song or the pool or the sauna, and that's
where he's saying the lines about he wants to eat
Japanese food and she's like, why don't you stay there?
You can eat it every day, and then he sort
of hangs up and then he just lowers himself lower
into the hot tub. It's just such a great visual
visual symbolism of how he's feeling in that moment. Yeah, totally.

(47:50):
I wrote that same thing down and it sort of
evokes the uh, the Rushmore scene where at the pool
party when he's just like gets up and does the
cannonball and just kind of sinks down and floats down.
It's a similar character in some ways. Yeah, I think so,
kind of that midlife crisis. The third act is when

(48:12):
the third act is when things get really depressing, That
is with the hot tub. I think it's sort of
that last half hour everything just sort of starts to
close in the reality, like the trip is winding down
for both of them, um, and it just that's when
he sleeps with a lounge singer, Like all the bad
things start to kind of happen in that last half hour. Yeah,

(48:34):
and you know, you say third act, but I think
that's in this movie a very loose term because it's
it's a really, in some ways a somewhat plotless, ye
loose film that doesn't adhere to what we think of
as like a three act structure. But but yeah, everything
it's kind of you slowly feel reality starting to set
back in. Yeah, you know, I'm leaving tomorrow, Bill Murray's

(48:58):
leaving the next day, and Scarlett Johansson is presumably staying
a little bit longer with her husband in in Japan,
and so it's just, yeah, it's very melancholy. Yeah, I
think everyone's had that feeling that that, whether it's a
vacation or summer camp or something like, you're so in

(49:18):
it when you're in it, and then like the saddest
day or like is like those last couple of days,
Like the last full day is always the saddest day,
not even the departure day, because you're trying to have fun,
but you're like, uh, this is all going to end, yeah,
like soon. And I think that's also what's great about

(49:39):
the movie is sort of the awareness and acceptance of
the fact that our time together is ending, and let's
be okay with that. Let's not exchange phone numbers, let's
not try to keep this thing going. But we came together.
We both really got something out of this, and now
we're going back to our lives and that's okay. And

(50:01):
it's okay to sort of have something, hold it tightly
and then be be willing to let it go. If
you love something, set it free. It's true, though very true.
It's so tried and corny, uh and on a poster everywhere,
but it is true. You can't hold something too tightly
like that you will choke the life out of it. Uh.
And then and then at the end, he has. There's

(50:22):
that great part where he's going to leave and um,
that American woman yeah comes up like oh and what
are you doing here? And he's just like he's looking
right through her at Star Joe in the background, and
he basically is just like, you know, I gotta go
or whatever. Yeah, and this this this attractive American woman here.

(50:42):
He could sleep with her so fast if you wanted to.
She's clearly into him, yeah, but he's just not on
He's Yeah, he sees right through her. I don't think
he heard like he just heard want want want one said,
and uh, he wants to go talk to her, and
he does, and then you know, you get that gray ending,
which is is sort of a variation of a trope

(51:03):
like stop the car, you know, and he you know,
but he doesn't run after he walks like everything is
slightly different than the usual trope of that scene. And
then they you know, what is here we go? What
does he say? Let's talk let's talk. Yeah. My notes
has a section about the whisper. Yeah, let's let's talk
about that because it's um, there are a lot of theories.

(51:26):
People have slowed it down on the internet and tried
to isolate it, and I kind of was almost like,
I don't even know if I want to hear the theories. Yeah,
I mean like I like the mystery of it. I'll
preface yeah, my response by saying that I don't think
we need to hear it. And I think that's sort
of like a the wrong way to approach a movie,
as like a puzzle to be solved, and that it's

(51:46):
whatever you wanted to be here. Let's let them have
their moment. I love Roger Ebert's review of the movie.
He had a great line about that whisper at the
end where he said, um, quote, we shouldn't be allowed
to hear it. It's between them, and by this point
in the movie, they've become real enough to deserve their privacy,
which is a really nice way to put it. All

(52:08):
that being said, though, it is fun to speculate, all right,
So if you don't want to hear any of this,
go ahead and just turn it off. So let's let's
let's talk what is the leading I think I know
what it is, but what did you see is a
leading theory. The leading theory, especially based on a YouTube

(52:29):
video where I slowed it down and adjusted the sound
mix and all this stuff is that he's he's whispering
something like I might be getting this wrong, but I
have to go right now, but I'm not going to
let that come between us. Okay. That's that's what I saw,
which is great and fitting and beautiful. I disagree with that, beautiful.

(52:50):
No, no no, no, I I disagree with that. That that's
what he's saying. If I am actually listening closely and
trying to interpret based on the little sounds, you can hear,
what I am hearing is Paul is dead. The Walrist
was Paul. I can't make out the first half of

(53:11):
the sentence, but the ending to me, the last kind
of part of the sentence to me, sounds something like
he's saying, I want you to go back up there
and tell him that you love him, Okay, to meet,
which fits to me that what he's telling her is
go back up there, tell him, meaning her husband, that

(53:32):
you love him. He's sort of giving her advice on saying,
don't give up on your marriage. Try to make it
work as best you can, which I think like almost
like it's too late for me, Yeah, because I feel
like it is. If we if we're going to talk
about the next week after this, um like he may
go home and get a divorce, but she will try

(53:54):
harder at her marriage. I don't feel like they do
the same thing. I agree after this. So again that's
just me sort of trying to listen closely and what
I hear. Uh, people, you may disagree with me. People,
we disagree. But I do like the sentiment that he's
not telling her something of like, you know, let's find
a way to keep in touch or let's try to

(54:15):
keep our thing going. But he sort of gives some
advice on how to maybe fix her marriage, which I
think is a nice sentiment. Yeah, and there is a
bit of a mentor quality to their relationship in some ways,
like he gives her little bits of advice here and there,
like father daughter. That's why the whole sexuality of it
is is a big part of the movie. I think,

(54:39):
you know, he touches her foot, he kisses her so
much in one little touch on the lips. Yea, yeah,
they had that that kiss. But again, it wasn't like
some sexually charged kiss. It almost just feels like they
in this sounds so creepy. I don't know if I
should say. It almost feels like they just wanted to
see what each other like, uh, what their lips felt

(55:05):
like on each other's mouths. Yeah, and and maybe it's
just like we need to give some gesture of acknowledgement
that's more than just like a polite handshake. Yeah, when
you shared so much with somebody, I know, it's it's
so like And I think that speaks to how great
the movie is. If you can sit down and have

(55:25):
a really good conversation with someone about the sexual politics
of this movie and what it means and what's going
on there. That means she wasn't just like, well this
is pretty black and white, go digest it easily. You know,
there's a movie that you gotta think about and it's
so great. You know the fact that if this movie
were directed by a man, it would feel very different.

(55:48):
And Sofia Coppola, I think a lot of her films
come from what I would call something like a very
feminine point of view. There's just something unique you get
from a director who's a woman basically. Yeah, but especially
Sofia couple who's such an artist and such a a

(56:10):
master of subtlety. Yeah, Virgin Suicides one of my faves. Yeah,
I I actually I rewatched Marie Antoinette recently. I love
that movie that When I first saw it, I was
kind of like, I don't know how I feel about this,
But the more time goes on, the more I love it.
It's so ballsy it almost begs, it begs you to
hate it sort of, but you just can't. And it's

(56:32):
so great, and it's you know, the anachronistic soundtrack. I
just think it so works. Yeah, you know, that's another
one i'd like to see again. Yeah, it's great. Holds
up and speaking of soundtrack, um, you know, they have
that moment and then just like Honey kicks in Jesus
and Mary Chane, she's just like speaking our language here
with my bloody balance on Jesus and Mary Chane, the

(56:54):
sort of drone e distorted thing. It's just so appropriate
for this movie. Kind of dreamy. Yeah, it continues that
sort of feeling, that dreaminess, and it's just such a
perfect sound que I wish I could. I wish I
had more to say other than it's perfect. I know. Yeah,
I feel like a dummy sometimes like, oh man, that's
fucking great, but it kind of just was. Yeah, it

(57:16):
was so perfect. Yeah, Uh, and that's just when a
when a movie can nail a music Q, that just
elevates everything. And that's what I love about movies is
it's so many art forms combined, you know, Like the
visual aesthetics of this movie is so beautiful, and the
acting is so great, and the dialogue is so subtle,
I think, and uh can interpret it in many ways,

(57:37):
and then you have this great soundtrack just kind of
all came together, and I think, Yeah, what what's great
about Sofia Coppola is I think for her this in
some ways, the style is the substance. You know. Some
people say a movie is all style and no substance.
Sometimes that's a valid criticism of movies. But for Coppola,

(57:58):
like they're so intertwined that you can't separate the two.
It's sort of like Wes Anderson, where some people knocked
Wes Anderson for his very unique visual aesthetic. It's a
nice way to what it right. But for me, for
most of his movies, I feel like that aesthetic is
inextricably linked to the substance of the movie. Like he's

(58:19):
making an argument through the visuals just as much as
he is the writing or the performances or the characters
or whatever, and I think Coppola does that as well. Yeah,
I mean, I know Wes Anderson gets knocked too for
not breaking out of that, but I I hope he
does every single movie of his entire career. I hope
is a Wes Anderson, E Wes Anderson movie. I mean,

(58:41):
I don't want to see him do anything different. They're great,
say what you will, but you can always tell a
Wes Anderson movie from the first from any shot. A
few of these shots, too, are are framed in such
a way to that it sort of evokes him. But
he I mean, he didn't invent the perfectly symmetrical wide
angle shot. He's he's made at his own. But it's
it would be unfair for me to say, like, she's

(59:02):
doing a Wes Anderson shot. No, I would say she's
doing a Sofia Coppola shot, you know exactly, And that
does remind me. I do want to just briefly touch
on the visuals. Director of photography was Lance Accord. She's
worked with him a lot, right, She's worked with him.
She worked with him on a Marie antoinette and then
he's shot actually some of Spike Jones movies, so he
did being John Malkovich adaptation Where the Wild Things Are

(59:26):
very I love his stuff and this this is maybe
my favorite of his movies. But the movie is shot
in in some ways in a very sort of documentary style,
and they didn't use a lot of film lighting in
the movie. It was sort of a minimal lighting setup. Uh.
And in fact, almost all of the exteriors, even the
nighttime exteriors, they didn't use any lighting, which is, you know,

(59:48):
that's something you don't really do in movies. But they
wanted to sort of be a crew with a small footprint.
And also because Tokyo is such a bright city with
all the neon, you can feel them in the middle
of the night and still have plenty of light to
get a good exposure on your camera. Uh. I don't
think the camera like, I don't remember. Are there any

(01:00:09):
dolly shots in this movie? I don't think so. It
feels like it's either lockdown or handheld. Yeah, but I
don't remember seeing any tracking shots. There may not be any,
I don't think so. That'd be pretty ballsy to be like, no,
there's not gonna be a dolly on this said. Yeah, Um,
I had a friend who worked on it, no way.
Yeah wardrobe. Wow, Yeah, that's awesome. I've got some stories.

(01:00:34):
Maybe I'll tell you off okay, yeah, but yeah, so
that's interesting though. The crew was mostly a Japanese crew
aside from a lot of the key positions, and so
that kind of made the production difficult because Sofia Coppola
would say something and then she'd have somebody translate it
to the crew, and so it was kind of a
slower way of working. But let's see what else about

(01:00:56):
the visuals? Um, oh, this is interesting. So you have
the DVD or the Blu ray. There's a great behind
the scenes documentary. Have you seen it? So it's called
Lost and Lost on Location. It was filmed by Spike Jones,
her husband at the time, so he was there and uh,
it's just shot on like it looks like just like
a DV camera. MANI DV can I wonder if he was, like, man,
Giovanni is great. That guy is hysterical. But it's one

(01:01:21):
of my favorite behind the scenes documentaries because it's not
the usual behind the scenes where it's just everybody being like, oh,
it's so great to work on this movie. Sophia is
so great. It's very fly on the wall, just capturing
moments of the production. And so some of the things
you see is that they actually shoot in a lot
of the locations without permits, which you know, like if

(01:01:41):
you want to film somewhere, you have to get permission
from the restaurant owner or but a lot of the
exteriors of Tokyo, they would just go out, run and gun,
in particular the Shaboo your crossing, which is that gigantic
intersection where you see that dinosaur projected on the video
screen Scarlet Johnson crosses the square and they just took

(01:02:02):
the camera out, didn't get a permit. We're hoping not
to get caught by the police, and they just would
film with the small film camera capture their shots. And
they also at one point went up to a Starbucks
and like pretended to order coffee and then stuck the
camera and like the window sill to get like a
high point of view show. Really yeah, and they got it.
And uh, I wonder about the arcade too, because that

(01:02:23):
felt very much like let's just get a camera and
walk around. It could have been. And also we took
a handful of releases and see if we can get
these kids to sign sign off. And also on the
subway when Scart Johnson's on the subway, those they didn't
get permits for, and they were very nervous. They talked
about about the police coming, and I think for the
most part they pulled it off, which is just something
that you know, especially on on movies that aren't sort

(01:02:46):
of micro budget films. You know, this movie was made
up for I think four million dollars, which is a
small budget, but it's it's a legit production. And to
just be willing to sort of be balls and say
we're just going to capture this and not worry about
permits or anything, is that it's a really bold move. Yeah,
and bold in that Um. I think that carries over
to the to the to the work, like that sort

(01:03:06):
of indie guerrilla spirit of running and gunning and getting
what you can. Like that's you've done stuff like that.
That's it's an exciting feeling. Yeah, it's scary, scary, but exciting.
Adrenaline infuses itself though through the work. I think. Yeah,
Like uh, in a while back, I did something similar
on Marta, which, for those of you who don't live

(01:03:27):
in Atlanta, Marta is our subway here in Atlanta, where
we took a little camera and tried to steal some
shots and we got them. At one point, some Marta
guard asked us, right, what are you guys? Aren't filming,
are you? And we were like, no, we're just we're
taking our equipment somewhere. Right. It used to be a
lot easier to do good stuff. Um. I mean when
I was in my late twenties, we shut stuff all

(01:03:49):
over town and you could just go into a restaurant
and be like, hey man, we're doing this, like cool
little project you mind of. We didn't have lights and stuff.
It was just like a camera and a tripod and
uh we shut in restaurants, We shot all over the place.
It's just people are way more savvy now now that
there's a lot of film work going on about like
having their hand out. Yeah, you know, like, oh sure

(01:04:10):
you can shoot here for five grand per day minimum.
I've had those conversations were trying to film because uh,
well you're you're making a movie, right I am. Yeah,
you want to talk about that, I will briefly, Okay,
only actually only as it relates to lost in translation,
because Sofia Coppla is a big inspiration for me, and
in the movie I'm making, which is in post production

(01:04:32):
right now. It's a feature, my first feature, but a
lot of there's a lot of things that were inspired
by Sofia Coppola, in particular Lost in Translation, especially visually. Um.
I have one scene where it's two characters sitting at
a kitchen table, two characters who don't know each other
very well, and they're sort of having a meal together
for the first time, and they're having this sort of

(01:04:53):
conversation where they're just getting to know each other. And
I basically copied the scene from Lost in Translation at
the at the bar where uh Bob and Charlotte have
their first conversation. So it's like a straight on two
shot of them that I love that shot too. Yeah,
And in that movie, it's great because you can see
Tokyo out the window and there's a distance between them, yeah,
a very like noticeable, like they're both on the edges

(01:05:13):
of the frame. And then at some point it cuts
into sort of over the shoulder close ups, very shallow focus,
very sort of intimate as they're kind of there. There's
a connection being made there, and I totally copied that
structure for the scene in my movies, which that straight
on shot and very I borrowed it. Yeah, you know
the good ones, Barre, the great one Steel right, Yeah, exactly, No,

(01:05:34):
she she probably borrowed that from someone else, and that's
part of it. That's cinematic language open to everyone. So yeah,
that's all I'll say about I think, how's it looking good? Yeah?
But you're happy with it. I'm happy with it. It's in. Uh.
We're doing the final sound mix and color correction now,
so awesome man should be done imminently. I can't wait.
You got anything else on this? No, I think we

(01:05:57):
covered everything I wanted to cover. Cool Man. We're gonna
do this again. You didn't, you were nervous about this.
I was. You did great, Thank you. So maybe we'll
make this part of the ongoing filmmaker series. Yeah, you
and Casey y'all are still roommates, right we are. Yeah,
you're the superstars of the show now. Casey is uh.
I think the master, though. I hope I can be

(01:06:17):
as good because kids both like. It's so much fun
to sit and talk movies with you guys. So we'll
we'll do this again. Maybe you and I should go
through Sofia Coppla's uh filmography? That would be fun. Should
we do that? Yeah, I'd be down to do that.
All right, dude, done, let's do it. We'll do uh
Virgin Suicides. Who I haven't watched that in a long time. Yeah,
we'll go back to the beginning. Emily is gonna be
so mad like I wanted to be your Sofia. A

(01:06:39):
couple of persons. We're doing what h Emily and I
are going to do. Alexander Payne though, oh n, we're
gonna go through his his career, uh, one at a time. Yeah,
I'm a fan. I'm a big fan of Yeah. Well
I talk about the Percent Club and he's in it
and uh, Sofia Coppla's in it? To me, what just movies?
You love everyone thing they've done movies like they've never

(01:07:01):
made a bad movie. Um, Collen, Brothers are almost there
that The Lady Killers just edges them out there. They're
still batting pretty well. Con Yeah, they're out there. But
Brothers would be fun to do as well. Yeah, and
this show is morphed and become a sort of one
thing where we can just kind of play around and
do fun stuff like this, so cool, awesome, Thanks buddy,

(01:07:22):
thank you. This is fun alright, everybody. I hope you
enjoyed that. I sure did. That was another good movie talk.
It's no surprise that Paul and Casey her roommates. Everyone.
Can you imagine those two sitting around rapping about film

(01:07:44):
late night on a Saturday. Man to be young must
be great. Uh. Paul had great insight, he was nervous,
and that was adorable. I knew he was going to
do a good job. Uh, and he did. He did great,
so much so that, as you heard it, I'm gonna
have Paul back in and we're to talk about more
Sofia Coppla films in the future in case you become

(01:08:04):
my little go to cinephiles here on staff, and they
do a great job. So I'm gonna keep having these
guys on. UM. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope
you learned something about the movie and enjoyed our inside
on it. And until next time, don't stay hold up
in that luxury hotel, get out and see the world. Movie.

(01:08:30):
Crush is produced, engineered, edited, and soundtracked by Noel Brown
and Ramsey Hunt at How Stuff Work studios, Pot City Market, Atlanta, Georgia,