This is post probably going to end up being longer because I have a lot to say about this movie. Believe it or not I actually lived in Japan for a summer while my dad was working there with Toyota. I avoided watching this movie for a while because, though I love Japan and always want to see more of it, seeing anything about Japan makes me a little depressed since I miss it so much. But I felt like this is one of those must watch films so I finally caved and watched it. This is only my second time seeing this movie. I think the first time was earlier this spring. The first time I watched it, I liked seeing Tokyo (especially seeing what it looked like in 2003, the year I was born) but I wasn’t overly impressed with the movie itself. I was almost completely indifferent to it and didn’t anticipate I would ever be watching it again. But earlier this week, I just got this strong urge out of nowhere to watch it again. I thought this would be an interesting blog post because I feel I can give some insight into the Japanese culture and how it effects the course of the film.
I think it’s common knowledge at this point that the Japanese as a society are very focused on hospitality. However, what you may not notice until you actually experience living (not just being a tourist) there, is though the Japanese are very kind and welcoming, you’re very much an outcast. You constantly feel it, they know it, and it does get very depressing and lonely. I didn’t live in Tokyo, just visited from time to time. We lived in a smaller town where Toyota is based and there’s way less foreigners than in Tokyo, so we really felt and looked out of place. But the thing about Tokyo is that there are so many foreigners and outcasts that it’s also hard to ‘fit in’ or find your crowd there. I was there with my family so I did feel the outcast part, but I rarely felt lonely. But these two characters, one alone and one mentally but not physically alone, really start to feel that loneliness. It’s not just the foreigners that face this loneliness though. The loneliness epidemic and high suicide rate of Japan make American headlines from time to time, but it’s an every day thought when you live there. America is extremely social and ‘lazy’ compared to the majority of Japanese. Men go to work for maybe twelve hours a day and women stay home and take care of the kids and that’s the reality of many, many families. This part isn’t quite as apparent in the film as Tokyo is a different beast, but that’s just my experience from living in a smaller city, about the size of Cincinnati. I’ve talked a little bit about loneliness in Japan which is the sole focus of the first half hour of the film. Now I’m going to fast forward to when our main characters meet. I feel a strong connection to the character of Charlotte. I’m not struggling with a marriage or depressed and alone in Tokyo, but her personality is similar to mine. The scene where her husband is having a conversation with this really outgoing actress and she’s just standing there observing the conversation; I’ve lived that so many times. It’s such a weird feeling. You don’t know if you should talk and even if you wanted to talk you don’t have anything to say. Her personality combined with Bill Murray’s hilarious character makes for an excellent dynamic. They were two lost, unhappy people even before they showed up in Japan, which is a recipe for a mental and emotional disaster. Alone, in a foreign environment such as this, those close connections back home are so essential. I would not call their relationship romantic at its core, more so just a deep connection and understanding which is what makes it so interesting. How could these two people who have virtually nothing in common besides hating their life and living in the same hotel halfway around the world develop such a deep connection. I’m not going to lay this out since I’d just be basically describing the rest of the movie, but I just think it’s really interesting to see. This movie isn’t perfect. I can see how a lot of people who didn’t have a personal connection to the story wouldn’t like it. I barely liked it the first time I saw it. The story takes quite a while to pick up and the performances are so subtle that they may be difficult for some to grasp and appreciate. I’d call this film a study of loneliness, kind of like Taxi Driver, which is both super depressing and super interesting to me. On a side note, I was never a fan of Scarlett Johansson. I wasn’t impressed with Marriage Story at all and thought she was overrated. Also, when an actor joins the Marvel franchise it kind of ruins them for me. I don’t know exactly what it is but I just can’t enjoy them in any other film (or even enjoy them in their Marvel films because I really dislike most of the newer stuff). But this movie changed my mind about her because it was such a strong and heartfelt performance.
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May Featured Movie QuoteBarry B. Benson: Yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black... Oh, black and yellow. Yeah, let's shake it up a little.
Yeah, I have letterboxd now
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