Lost in my mind, again..
Now Playing: Kraftwerk: Autobahn
Topic: My mind's attic
Nothing much interesting me in the theaters these days, I went back to my movie collection last night. Among them I found Sofia Coppola's gem, Lost in Translation. Having not only lived in Tokyo once, but worked in advertising there, the cultural backdrop to this excellent feature was all to familiar.
There are few places on this planet where a Westerner could feel more alienated than Japan (the other being Manhattan). It is not just that their complex culture is so vastly different from anything we might have experienced, but the fact that on the surface it is covered with a seemingly American veneer (also true for Manhattan). The clothes, the gadgets, a commercialism so penetrating that its dictates reach into every nook and cranny of people's lives; all of it looks oddly familiar. Until you lift a corner of this patina and discover its solid roots in medieval Japan.
Miss Coppola naturally focused on the blatant encounters of her protagonists: the "gift" woman sent to him by a local business partner; the drinking culture; the gambling and video arcades; and of course, the absolute loneliness of being an outsider. It was the long shots, though, that really captured Tokyo for me. The limitless spread of low-built housing, densely packed around a handful of tall buildings; the twenty-four hour presence of the multitudes in a city that never seems to rest.
The movie did something else, too. It re-opened a small door in my mind I really thought I had sealed for good: behind it lurks the restless desire to go somewhere, to travel again. Destinations do not matter, other than as bait. The real hunger is for the journey. An appetite that has become harder and harder to still, now that every place is basically a mere jet ride away.
Maybe I ought to go to the movies after all. Surely the current fare will squelch any desires to depart.