Movies! Part I: Xenia's Summer Movie List Part II: Lost in Translation- a reflection

Part I
Summer Movie List:
Here's a list of some movies coming out this summer-- some of which I'd like to see, others that I can do without.

Napoleon Dynamite-- This looks absolutely hilarious! I was surprise to find out that the film is directed and written by a Mormon, AND several of the actors are Mormons as well-- which explains why it's rated PG. Hey-- all the humor, minus the slop-- I'll take it.

White Chicks-- You gotta admit-- it's pretty original! I'm sure it'll have some funny sequences, but I think I'll skip it ;)

Stepford Wives-- A little sci-fi now and again can be fun. I might just wait for it to come out on video, though.

Shrek 2-- I still haven't seen this yet, but I've heard good things

Mean Girls-- Okay, at first glance this probably just looks like a typical dumb teen movie. BUT, having read some reviews, I find the story line to be very revealing about teen-age girls. Having been one myself (a teen-ager... not mean, hopefully!), I remember clearly the cliques, the traps, the back-stabbing that went on among the "prep squad" in high school.

Elephant-- A new movie from Portland's own Gus van Sant (sp?). I haven't seen very many of his movies, and I'm not sure if this one is coming out this summer or later in the fall. It's another movie about high school, but it's in an entirely different league than the typical teen movie. It's about school shootings, and will probably be disturbing... I guess I'm a bit curious though, as I was in high school when the school shooting epidemic took place. Our school was in the same sports league as Thurston High, so when the Kinkle incident took place, it hit pretty close to home.

The Village-- A must see, for sure. I've enjoyed all of Shyamalan's movies that I've seen, and I can't wait for this to come out!

Spiderman 2-- I'm not one for action movies, but the first Spiderman had enough dynamic components to keep me engaged :) Plus, Steve will probably actually want to see it, so why not?

Part II

The other night I watched Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. It was cool, Steve and I (along with two other friends) got access to a huge lecture hall on campus that makes for a great little movie theater, with a big pull-down screen that's typically used for power point lectures. Anyway, it was nice to see a movie of that quality on a "big screen." I'd read many reviews about it, and I've been wanting to see it. Steve, on the other hand, had never even heard of it, and didn't really care one way or the other if we watched it. He's not really into the "artsy" or "unusual" types of movies, but he can usually stand them and most of the time he ends up enjoying them.

I was a bit concerned, as the movie was rated "R" for sexuality. I kind of assumed that the two main characters Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansen) would engage in an "act of adultery" worth some fast-forwarding. BUT, it turns out to be a relatively clean movie with only a few random fast-forward moments that didn't involve the two main characters. I was very surprised. I think that's part of the intrigue that keeps you watching the film, though: there's this almost awkward admiration that the two have for one another, yet both of them are married (and so different in age!!!!). The artistry of the film, and the amazing, true-to-life acting is enough to keep your interest piqued throughout the entire film, but there's also this huge unknown that keeps you watching, and that is: How is this going to end-- are they in love?

I think that this movie is amazingly real. Maybe it doesn't really have any huge "moral to the story," but it does capture a friendship that unravels in the most unlikely of places: in the heart of the neon-illumined, ultra-modern, heavily populated city of Tokyo. I think it really captures the experience of anyone who has built an immediate and close friendship in the wrong place and the wrong time, never to be captured in the same way again.
The film also acts as a hauntingly realistic tribute to Tokyo's sociological dynamics.