Flipside Movie Emporium

[Hawkwing74]

I won't even see films like 2 Fast 2 Furious, I feel it's wrong to reward Hollywood for producing such tripe. Some of the elements of Lost in Translation you're talking about must have been too subtle for me though.

[Weasel]

After listening to it many times, the best I can get is...

"Art is the most beautiful thing that I've ever had until the [true art appeared]."

The part in brackets is very tough to make out, and I admit that it may be incorrect; I'm fairly confident about the rest of it, though. As some have said, perhaps it's best to leave that part up to the imagination. If you're like me and hate not knowing, however, maybe this at least gets close to the right direction.

[the night watchman]

Dumb question, but has anyone tried watching that scene with Closed Caption?
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[Danny Baldwin]

Ooooooh, that's a good idea.
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[Michael Scrutchin]

Just in case anyone missed this in a past edition of Ebert's Movie Answer Man column:

-----------------------

Q. After reading your review of "Lost in Translation" and subsequent discussion about how we do not hear Bill Murray's final words to Scarlett Johansson, I was surprised to find that I could understand fairly easily what Murray whispered into her ear at the end. While I could not hear every word, it was obvious to me that he said something like "As soon as possible, call your husband and tell him you love him, OK?" The last six words I have no doubt about whatsoever.

Matthew Allen, Long Beach, Calif.

A. I saw the film again, and closed my eyes and concentrated every aural nerve during that scene, and still could not hear a word. Apparently I am not alone. In an interview with writer-director Sofia Coppola in the new issue of Sight & Sound, she's asked, "Dare I ask what Bob whispers to Charlotte at the end?" And she replies: "Someone asked Bill, and he said, 'It's between lovers.' I love that answer."

Then she was asked if she had written lines for the scene, and said: "I wrote some stuff but I wasn't happy with it. There was dialogue but it was really sparse. Ultimately I liked it better that you don't hear it, that you can put in what you want them to say. You wish he'd say, 'I had a great time and you're great,' but instead he says, 'I left my jacket.' That's what people do."

-----------------------

Although I doubt Matt from Long Beach actually heard what he says he heard, I really like the idea that Bob tells Charlotte to call her husband and tell him that she loves him. I've read quite a few theories, and that's the one I like the best.

I read somewhere that a Spanish-dubbed version of the film (or was it Spanish-subtitled?) has Bob saying, "You're the best thing that ever happened to me." I think that's completely terrible. Completely. Ugh.
_________________
Michael Scrutchin
Flipside Movie Emporium
www.flipsidearchive.com

[beltmann]

I must confess that I am utterly disinterested in deciphering what Murray says at the end. Trying to crack that case seems trivial, perhaps because I don't think what he says matters. In a movie about true intimacy--and in a movie about how form can trump content--I'm willing to grant these two characters that degree of privacy. Knowing what passes through his lips wouldn't change a thing about the scene. For me, it is irrelevant material.

Eric

[the night watchman]

Yes, by that point in the movie, you know what Bob is saying to Charlotte; the words are extraneous. That said, I think everyone's ideas (except for the Spanish dub) are interesting.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[nekjay]

jj

[beltmann]