Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola

Lost in Translation really has nothing to do with Italians or Italian Americans but what renders it a possible film for study is that it's director, Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, is the director and thus she is of Italian descent. What I think makes the film "Italian" however is its style. While watching the film I was brought back to the films of Fellini and the Italian neorealists because the film was once again character driven. As viewers we are shown a glimpse of the life of two people in Tokyo and their search for happiness and belonging. The things that happen around them are secondary to their relationship and the things that are happening inside them. In this way I see the influence of Italian film on the movie. There was even a reference to La Dolce Vita in the film, a film by Fellini himself, and a story that in my opinion somewhat parallels the story of Charlotte and Bob; they are two people who meet in a city and find comfort in each other.

The second thing that I noticed is while the film deals with two peoples from America going to Tokyo, their experience could be seen as the "immigrant" experience of the Italians who came to America and the struggles they went through to try and fit in. Bob and Charlotte struggle with the language, the culture, and a sense of belonging, and instead of integrating themselves into the Japanese lifestyle, they stick together, the two "Americans" in Tokyo. This also parallels the idea of Little Italy and that when the Italians came over instead of dispersing into American society they formed there own "Little Italy," sticking together, continuing their culture and speaking their language. This is much the same thing that Charlotte and Bob are doing in the film. They are creating their own culture within the dominant culture.