“Lost in Translation” and Mindful Lessons from Chance Encounters

Shinjuku Tokyo

I recently ran across this collection of chance encounter stories, and found them to be uplifting accounts of unexpected connections while traveling in some form;

…and that got me thinking about the movie Lost in Translation.

It is the 2003 movie about Bob Harris (Bill Murray), an aging and fading Hollywood star who goes to Tokyo, Japan to film a whisky commercial. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a young, newly married woman, is also in Tokyo accompanying her photographer husband who goes there for work. Bob and Charlotte have a chance meeting, and, consequently, explore Tokyo and their own thoughts and feelings over the course of a week. As with my other mindfulness in film dialogues, plot points of the film will be discussed and contain spoilers.

We are introduced to Bob Harris snoring in the back of a limousine only to be startled by the iconic bright neon lights of Tokyo. There is a picture of him on a billboard advertising a brand of Japanese whisky. He rubs his eyes, and one can sense he is wondering if he is still asleep and dreaming.

Park Hyatt Hotel Tokyo

After arriving to his hotel room in the luxurious Park Hyatt located in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, a sleep-deprived Bob heads to the New York bar, located on the 52nd floor of the hotel. I am specific about the name and location of this because the hotel and bar are also a main character in the film. A majority of the plot occurs here, and their alluring atmosphere also adds to the dream-like ambience of the movie. We are introduced to the elegant bar with a lounge singer covering Julie London’s “The Thrill is Gone,” which, apparently, echoes the current relationship Bob has with his wife as we will continue to see. (I should also mention that music is also a main character in the movie as well, and will discuss more on that later.)

As Bob is seated at the bar, he is recognized by two American businessmen who are big fans of the films he once did. One of them asks, “What are you doing here?” Bob is rattled with being recognized, and is uncomfortable with the true reason he is in Tokyo, so he responds, “Seeing friends,” and meekly wanders off. It should be mentioned that big-name Hollywood celebrities making commercials for television was not as common 20 years ago as it is today. However, several American celebrities did (and still do) travel to Japan to make commercials as it was a lucrative paycheck, and because of secrecy clauses, knew their commercials would not be seen in the States. (YouTube has now changed that possibility). So, Bob felt it was demeaning to be doing a commercial, and was embarrassed to tell the businessmen the true reason why he was in Tokyo.

We also see Charlotte around this time having difficulty sleeping as well. She spends a lot of time gazing out of her hotel room window at the city below while her husband is away working. She also frequently wanders around and explores Tokyo and its surroundings by herself.

After visiting a Buddhist temple and seeing some monks perform a chanting ritual, Charlotte is overcome by emotion when she returns to her hotel room, and calls a friend back in the States. Fighting back tears, she tells her friend she is enjoying Tokyo, and then rambles a bit and then says, “I don’t know who I married.” Her friend then has to put Charlotte on hold for a moment and when she returns the friend asks, “Sorry, what were you saying?” Charlotte said it was nothing and says she will call back later. The friend then says, “Okay. Have the best time. Just call me when you get back, okay?” Charlotte hangs up the phone and cries.

Kabukicho district in Shinjuku Tokyo

There is a lot being revealed in this short scene. First, it appears that Charlotte is really enjoying Tokyo, and the unique unfamiliarity of her surroundings has allowed her true thoughts and emotions to bubble up… without her comfortable familiarity of being back in the States as a panacea to soothe over what she is truly feeling. Sometimes one has to get truly lost in order to find themselves… and this is what Charlotte (and we will also see with Bob) is experiencing with being in such a foreign and different place such as Tokyo. Also, her friend mentioned to Charlotte to have a good time. Bob’s wife also brings this up in the frequent faxes she sends to him at the hotel as well as the occasional phone calls they have. There is a sense of insincerity and jealousy in both of their well wishes. Finally, the friend on the phone was too busy working and involved in her situation to acknowledge that Charlotte was upset and crying… and reaching out for someone to listen to her.

One of the mindfulness practices I have been grateful to learn more about these past few years is compassionate (or deep) listening. Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person.” The idea is to listen intently with whatever the person is saying without thinking about a response while listening to them, nor coming up with the right answers or ideas on how to fix the situation. Sometimes people just want to be heard and listened to, and Charlotte’s friend on the phone did not recognize that. However, someone will later.

As time goes on, we see Charlotte still walking around the city by herself. Bob, however, only stays in the hotel, or goes to film the whisky commercial and accompanying photo shoots… and he only does that while accompanied by an interpreter and a few handlers. Charlotte uses the time to explore. She is curious. Bob uses the time to work and think about leaving. When invited to be a guest on the equivalent of “Johnny Carson of Japan’s” television show, Bob refuses and tells his agent on the phone, “I got to get out of here as soon as I can.” During the photo shoot the photographer asks Bob, “You are a movie star?” Once again, Bob is reminded of what he thinks is demeaning and responds, “Yes, I should be doing movies.”

Bob is later seen at the bar wearing the same tuxedo he was wearing earlier during the photo shoot. The lounge singer is covering Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair”, a song about lost love…and was also prominently featured in the film The Graduate… another film about the main characters being lost and searching for meaning. Bob sees Charlotte sitting at a table in the lounge along with her husband and the people he was working with, and Charlotte notices Bob. She acknowledges him by having a waiter send over a small bowl of drink snacks that was at their table, which he accepts.

In her hotel room later, Charlotte is seen listening to a CD entitled “A Soul’s Search: Finding Your True Calling.” The narrator asks, “Did you ever wonder what your purpose in life is? Every soul has its path and sometimes that is not clear. The simplest and most powerful technique for finding your true calling is knowing the right questions to ask.” Charlotte obviously has questions about her current and future life, and uses the unfamiliar environment of Tokyo (as well as her insomnia and accompanying boredom) to help her with searching for the answers. On the other hand, Bob is exposed to the same surroundings, but chooses to be judgmental of the work he is doing as well as thinking about the day he can finally leave and go back home. One of the notions of mindfulness is being truly aware of the situation one is in and then choosing how to mindfully respond to it… not react. Charlotte is responding to Tokyo by examining and nurturing the feelings that are arising within her. Bob is reacting to Tokyo, and, therefore, escalates his unhappiness by not taking the time to examine what he is truly feeling.

Later, Bob is the only one sitting bar when Charlotte wanders in and decides to sit down next to him. This is the first time they truly meet and talk to each other. They don’t even introduce themselves (although it is possible Charlotte is aware of who Bob is and the movies he has done). Charlotte asks, “So, what are you doing here?” This is the same question asked by the two businessmen-fans a few days earlier, but instead of shrinking away and denying his presence, Bob replies: “A couple of things: Taking a break from my wife, forgetting my son’s birthday, and getting paid two million dollars to endorse a whisky…when I could be doing a play somewhere.” He still has regret and feels shame for what he is doing in Tokyo, but now he feels comfortable opening up about it for the first time to someone.

Bob then asks Charlotte, “What are you doing?” They both ask the same existential question of “what” the other’s reason is in being there is… and not “why” the other is there. Charlotte then explains that her husband is a photographer there for work, and that she “wasn’t doing anything, so I came along.” Their dialogue is about where they are in the present moment and not what they did in the past or what they will do in the future. Charlotte even states to Bob, “You are probably having a midlife crisis. Have you bought a Porsche, yet?” Bob jokes, “I was thinking about buying a Porsche.” So while he says this with some humor, one can also get the sense that he is thinking that buying a Porsche might make him happy. Bob then asks, “What do you do?” She replies, “I’m not sure yet, actually.” Both Bob and Charlotte are lost. After years of marriage and work, Bob doesn’t really know what he wants now, or who he truly is. Charlotte is just embarking on her adult life and marriage, and is does not know where she is at or where she is going.

A few days later, Charlotte and Bob cross paths again…this time in the common area of the hotel’s spa and pool area. After some brief small talk, Charlotte pauses and says she is meeting some friends later and asks if Bob wants to join her. Bob pauses, and accepts. I love this scene as it truly encapsulates the notion of a chance encounter. What if they both had not been at the spa area at the same time? Would she have invited him out on another night if she ran into him again? And, as we will see, this brief encounter and Charlotte’s act of compassion towards Bob is a literal crossroad for both of them… and their lives will now be forever changed because of it.

When Bob arrives at Charlotte’s hotel room she notices the garish shirt he is wearing and says,“You really are having a midlife crisis.” He responds, “I was afraid of that” (and changes his shirt inside out). Bob is starting to soften, and is beginning to recognize he has some existential challenges he needs to address… and he is comfortable with listening to the advice of someone that is 30 years younger than him. He also notices the self-help soul-searching CD she has on the nightstand, and acknowledges that he also has it…but it hadn’t helped him.

From here they meet Charlotte’s Japanese friends and spend the evening going to a bar, an apartment, and finish the evening at a karaoke bar. This is Bob’s first time out of the hotel without his helpers or having to work…and he is enjoying himself. As in in the hotel lounge, the songs being sung in the karaoke bar are consistent with what Bob and Charlotte are experiencing and feeling. Charlotte sings Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders, which is a song about wanting to be accepted and noticed. Bob sings More Than This by Roxy music…a song about recognizing and accepting the impermanence of life, and living in the moment.

At the midway point in the movie, Bob joins Charlotte sitting in the hallway outside of the karaoke room. Neither one talks. Charlotte is smoking a cigarette and Bob takes a smoke from it and passes it back to her. She rests her head on his shoulder and he casually folds his hands on his knee and slowly looks around. To me this is one of the intimately sweet moments in all of cinema. In the brief scene we can see they have formed a connection. Bob still looks confused, but he also looks like he is starting to try and figure things out. Charlotte looks content.

As they ride back to the hotel in a taxi, Bob is sleeping and Charlotte gazes out at the dream-like neon city scape of nighttime Tokyo. This is very similar to the introductory scene of Bob arriving in Tokyo at the beginning of the movie. No dialogue is spoken, and Sometimes, by My Bloody Valentine, is heard on the film soundtrack for this scene. It is another song about unrequited love as well as longing, discovery, and realization. As mentioned earlier, the music in the film is a main character…and that includes the soundtrack album, and not just the songs sung in the lounge and karaoke bar. The entire soundtrack is comprised of dream pop songs which not only echo emotions being felt in the movie, but also enhance the surreally ethereal, other-worldly, and dream-like place of Tokyo…especially if one was suffering from insomnia and jet-lag.

The next morning we see Bob golfing… by himself… without his handlers (or Charlotte)… with a beautiful shot of Mount Fuji in the background. Charlotte has opened Bob’s mind about the possibility of getting out of the hotel on his own and enjoying Japan.

They are later having lunch together at a sushi restaurant when Charlotte shows Bob where she severely stubbed her toe a few days earlier. Bob insists on taking her to the hospital, and they go. He patiently waits for her in the waiting room, and these scenes show how he is becoming more nurturing towards Charlotte and less centered on his problems. He is beginning to rediscover happiness by caring for another person.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo

Later, as they are crossing the famous Shibuya Crossing Scramble intersection, an advertising truck goes by with a large sign of Bob drinking the whisky from the photo shoot on the side of it. Charlotte notices this and says, “There you are. Say ‘hi.’” This a way of her telling Bob to accept himself as he is in the moment (and for coming to Tokyo to endorse the whisky), and he seems to be fine with it now thanks to her guidance and kindness.

As they walk back into the hotel, a famous Hollywood actress (who we met earlier in the film) is in the New York bar tipsily singing Carly Simon’s Nobody Does it Better. It is no coincidence that we hear the lyric, “I wasn’t looking, but somehow you found me” as Bob and Charlotte walk by.

Immediately after, Charlotte is sitting in a chair in her hotel room after not being able to sleep. A note is slid under her door from the hotel staff. It is from Mr. Harris, and it asks, “Are you awake?” Throughout the film we see both Charlotte and Bob struggling with and discussing their jet-lag insomnia… while surrounded by the dream imagery of Tokyo at night. This shows that they are both literally sleepwalking through their time there, but it is also symbolically echoes the metaphorical sleepwalking they have been doing back in their unhappy and unexamined lives back in the States. To be fully awake is to aware , alert, conscious… and even somewhat enlightened.

Charlotte joins Bob in his room for some sake drinking accompanied with watching Fellini’s film masterpiece La Dolce Vita, which also has themes of searching for the meaning of life while immersed in an iconic city (Rome). She tells Bob, “Let’s never come her again because it would never be as much fun.” From here they engage in a lovely intimate discussion on the questions of life. Charlotte says, “I’m stuck. Does it get any easier?” Bob says “No. Yes. It gets easier,” and then offers, “The more you know who you are and what you want… the less you let things upset you.”

The more you know who you are and what you want… the less you let things upset you.

She continues to ask questions that only someone older, married, and has children could answer. While Bob is still trying to reexamine his own self, he puts that aside to listen and offer some ideas to a young woman struggling to establish her own identity and future. He is now her compassionate listener.

The next morning Charlotte is by herself on a Shinkansen bullet train, and the moments play out like an imaginary ethereal fantasy…exquisitely accompanied with the dream pop song Alone in Kyoto by the group AIR. I find it noteworthy that she ventures out on her own even after forming a friendship with Bob (and Kyoto is around 2 hours from Tokyo by train). Once again she is curious, and while she is alone she is not lonely. She is mesmerized by the beauty of the temples and surroundings, and pauses to watch a traditional Japanese wedding that she happens across. Charlotte smiles and seems to appreciate the vows the Japanese couple are about to undertake, and the lives they are about to embark on together. From this moment on she no longer has any questions about herself, her relationship, or her future during the rest of the film after this scene. It is almost like she now knows who she is and what she wants to do now with her life.

Bob is also shown wandering around Tokyo by himself and he even calls his interpreter to let her know that he would like to appear on the “Johnny Carson of Japan’s” show. He is starting to have fun and feel comfortable with himself and his surroundings.

However, while relaxing in a hot spring bath in the hotel’s spa, Bob receives a phone call from his wife… and he is reminded of his life back in the States. After a discussion that starts about carpet samples for their home remodel, Bob says, “Whatever you want. I am completely lost.” He lets her know Japan has changed him and he would like to start eating healthy again and taking better care of himself when he gets home. She asks, “Do I need to worry about you?” He replies, “Only if you want to.” She is annoyed by his reply and says she has things to do and has to go. So… while Bob perhaps has now figured out what he wants to do with himself and his life, he realizes he may get some pushback from his wife after she sees his newly awakened and no longer sleepwalking self.

Bob and Charlotte meet up in the hotel bar after being awakened by a (false) fire alarm. It will be their last time together as Bob is leaving to return home the next morning. The piano singer is covering Atlantic Rhythm Section’s So Into You. Bob tells Charlotte, “I don’t want to leave.” Before their chance encounter a handful of days earlier, Bob wanted nothing more than to begrudgingly do the whisky endorsement and immediately go home. Now he doesn’t want to leave, and he also wants to incorporate a Japanese way of eating into his life. Charlotte replies, “Then don’t. Stay here.” The idea is intriguing for Bob, but his awakened self is aware of his responsibilities and obligations back home. He wants to go back to that life, but with some changes.

The next morning Bob is in the lobby of the hotel with his interpreter and handlers. Charlotte appears and returns Bob’s coat that she had. It is an awkward and unemotional goodby for them since there are several people nearby. Charlotte heads to the elevator and Bob sadly watches her leave.

Bob is pensive in the limousine ride to the airport until he sees Charlotte walking along one of the streets near the hotel. He tells the driver to stop and let him out. When he gets near Charlotte he says, “Hey, you.” She turns around and smiles. In what is now a famously debated scene, Bob hugs Charlotte and whispers something unintelligible in her ear. She nods in agreement with tears running down her cheeks. Bob kisses her, says “Goodbye,” and then walks away backwards so he can still see her. And he smiles. It is the first genuine smile he has had the whole movie. He is happy.

When he gets back into the limousine, he nods to the driver and says, “Alright.” This is the last word spoke in the movie. Not only is it an acknowledgment to the driver it is okay to go, it is an acknowledgment that Bob now knows he is alright.

With just a chance encounter and a very short amount of time together surrounded by the largest metropolis in the world, Bob and Charlotte formed an incredible friendship. It is not known whether they will ever see each other again, but in those moments they were mentors and healers for each other. Charlotte showed Bob how to have fun again, and to accept the idea of him being an aging and fading movie star who now also does commercials. Bob helped Charlotte understand how to deal with some of the challenges that she may encounter in her now-accepted long-term relationship. They both now feel better about themselves after being with each other during this juncture in their lives, and it is a feeling they will now carry with them back to their lives at home in the States.