Sophia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” V.S Spike Jonze’s “Her”

Sophia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation”
V.S
Spike Jonze’s “Her”

 *I recommend watching both movies before reading this article.* 

 Yesterday, I had the pleasure watching Lost In Translation for the first time. I think it’s more than a movie; It’s an experience. Bill Murray’s relationship with Scarlett Johansson was beautiful. It's wasn't ordinary and I liked that.
As I was saying, Lost in Translation is about a lot of things; It’s about being lost. It’s about feeling lonely. It’s about having a relationship without consummation. Sofia Coppola expressed herself with Lost in Translation. It had passion.
 
  This gets me to another point; it reminded me of Spike Jonze’s “Her”. I do realize that Lost in Translation is 10 years older than Her, but I can’t neglect the fact that they’re somewhat interestingly look alike. First of all, the overall all moods were similar. Both cities looked a lot like each other. Funny thing, Lost in Translation was shot in Tokyo, Japan and Her was shot in Shanghai, China. Another common thing is –obviously- Scarlet Johansson. She played Charlotte in Lost in Translation and voiced Samantha in Her.
 
  It gets more interesting; Did you know that  back in 1999, Spike Jonze and Sophia Coppola were married? They got divorced in 2003; That’s right; the same year that Lost in Translation came out. Sophia Coppola said that Lost in Translation was based on her life. The character of John (Giovanni Ribisi) was loosely based on her then husband Spike Jonze. In the movie, John was always busy and didn’t give Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) that much attention. Sophia is trying to tell us something.


  But wait, I remember something!
“Her” had a character that was interesting too, Catherine (Rooney Mara). Catherine loved Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and then things didn’t go that well between them. They got divorced eventually and there were scenes that she was shown as a douche-bag. I’m not exactly sure that he based Catherine on Sophia, but I’m just assuming this fact, with reasons of course.

  Wait a second, it’s like it’s one story being told from two points of view:
From Sophia’s point of view, she saw Spike Jonze as someone who’s not there for her and how she felt lost with him. She felt that nothing makes sense at all.
From Jonze’s point of view, He regrets what happened, but he’s learning to move on.*SPOLIER ALERT* Actually, at the end of Her, when Theodore is writing the letter to Catherine, if feels like he’s writing it to Sophia.

The letter goes:

Dear Catherine,
  
 I've been sitting here thinking about all the things I wanted to apologize to you for. All the pain we caused each other. Everything I put on you. Everything I needed you to be or needed you to say. I'm sorry for that. I'll always love you 'cause we grew up together and you helped make me who I am. I just wanted you to know there will be a piece of you in me always, and I'm grateful for that. Whatever someone you become, and wherever you are in the world, I'm sending you love. You're my friend to the end.

Love, Theodore.

 This right here my friends, Is the beauty of filmmaking.

Rush (2013) Movie Review

RUSH MOVIE REVIEW

RUSH:
  Rush is the story of the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda who were Formula One rivals. Directed by Ron Howard - The director of 'A Beautiful Mind' and 'Cinderella Man'- which is the first indicator that this movie has a great potential to kick-ass.

  I was excited to watch Rush when it came out and I've seen Youtube reviews stating that Rush is 'worth watching'.The surprise was that it was even better than expected.

THE CASTING

Chris Hemsworth               as James Hunt

Daniel Brühl                         as Niki Lauda

Olivia Wilde                          as Suzy Hunt

Alexandra Maria Lara        as Marlene Lauda

  I watched the movie, then I wanted to see the 'real' heroes of the story. I can't imagine a better casting than this. I mean, look at them; they're almost the same. Other than the looks, if you watch footage of James Hunt speaking you would know how accurate Chris Hemsworth at capturing the right -british- accent. Also, Bruhl's accent was spot on, which reminds me, I've never heard of Bruhl or Niki Lauda before. It's good to watch a person doing an impression of someone else and after he's done you get to know who that person was and you're like "SO THAT'S WHO YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE. COOL! ".

*Bro fists the casting team*

THE MOVIE ITSELF:

 One of the first things I noticed is that it's unclear who the main protagonist really is; the story revolves around both of them equally. This means that there's no villain either. You see, that's what's interesting about Rush; it features two rivals who are extremely different in everything. James Hunt (Hemsworth) is like Tony Stark of Formula One -if you don't know who Tony Stark is, I feel sorry for you-. He's a reckless playboy who lives each day as if it's his last. On the other hand, Niki Lauda (Bruhl) is calm and he is serious about racing. He gave up his family's wealth in order to achieve his dreams; becoming a Formula One champion. He bases his decisions on numbers and calculations. Unlike Hunt, he's not willing to risk his life and put it on the edge for 'fun'. Both the characters have pros and cons. You're always confused; you don't know which side to take or which man to root for. One time you say to yourself: " Hunt is the man" and a second later you're like: "I think Lauda is cooler". Fifteen minutes through and you say to yourself "I think I like Hunt more than Lauda". Then you say: "Wait, Hunt is a douche-bag, I think I'll root for Lauda" and so on. 
 

 The reason why it's hard to pick a person to root for is that the character development is so freakishly good and best of all 'realistic'. There is no complete characters and each one has a dark side which makes it hard to characterize a person as 'good' or 'evil'.
      What's also good about Rush is that it's accurate in terms of story telling. Knowing that it's based on a true story; writer Peter Morgan actually contacted Niki Lauda and asked him to help him in writing the script. There was also an interview where Niki Lauda confirmed that. "It is very accurate I have to say" Lauda said. "Everything I've told Peter is in the movie, very accurate and it's exactly what happened in that season".
 
The cinematography was out of this world. Formula One was never that interesting thanks to the awesome racing scenes/shots.They also used real footage from the 1976 Formula One season including some crashes. *Spoiler* There was a scene where there was a car crash. When you first see it it was CGI. When Hunt was watching the news, real footage of the crash was used which is pretty cool. They also used real footage of James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the end which was perfect. I can't think of a better/cooler ending than that.
 
  I liked the soundtrack so much that I had to look it up just right after I was done with the movie. Guess who is the composer... HANS ZIMMER! ENOUGH SAID ALREADY.

*Bro fists Hans Zimmer*



THE SUMMARY:

'Rush' is one of the best movies of 2013. It's just a bummer that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar. Come on!  at least give a Daniel Brühl a nomination for his performance!. You don't have to be a Formula One fan or a racing freak to enjoy this movie.

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Here's a photo of James Hunt and George Harrison