One reality of living abroad is that occasionally you feel lonely. This is not an existential loneliness, it is not a always present either, or any particular kind, it is just that the street is slightly too quiet, the light is slightly darker and you feel like you would want to be somewhere else, although not sure where.

This is how I felt the day when I watched Lost in Translation. For some reason we enjoy watching or listening things that resembles our current state of mind, and Lost in Translation is that movie that is always mentioned as one that depicts loneliness well.

However, I don’t think I agree about the movie. This is not movie about being lonely, this is movie about experiencing and facing deep regret in life. When you finally allow yourself to see, just how bad your life actually is.

Thinking about your mistakes is hard, so we distract ourselves to face with our bad choices. People become workaholics, alcoholics, anything not to think about painful stuff. Because life can be painful, and pain is something to be avoided. So we go to the bars, we socialize, we go to karaoke places and explore unknown cities. But somehow this isn’t working for both main characters, Bob and Charlotte.

Movie is rightfully set in the foreign city because travelling gives us a lot of time on our own. We are away from our usual environment and people, and its almost the only place in our life where we have to wait a lot. We wait for a plane to land, shooting to start or partner to return, meanwhile starring out of the windows of planes, cars, hotels, thinking. Thinking about things you usually don’t have time to think. At least this is what you say to yourself.

But once you have so much time you find out that not even distractions can help you. You can go to the bar, you can go for a night out, but it won’t go away. And this is the state of mind of both main characters, Bob and Charlotte.

Maybe this is why people think this movie is about loneliness. Because both Bob and Charlotte need to be alone to face their own failures. They try to go out and enjoy some random things city has to offer, but they can’t. It feels off and they feel alienated. Deep down they know, something is not right in their life for them to enjoy this moment

I like the fact that movie is not particularly romantic. They don’t fall in love with each other, its more about two people who are both alienated and disconnected from their own lives, meeting someone who is experiencing the exact same thing. This is why I didn’t like the final scene where they share a kiss, after Bob spottet Charlotte from a cab when he was going to the airport. It was to cheesy and kinda ruins what movie spent so much time proving.

What I did like however, is how much both characters take away from the trip, even though nothing much happened at all. The setting was very minimalistic, but in the end, both walk away knowing that they need to make a change in their lives.

Yes they are alienated, but they definitely are not lonely.

They both have regrets

Both charracters have envious lifes, one is renoved actor travelling the world, and the other is an attractive wife of succesfull artist travelling the world.

Every girl goes through a photography phase

It’s not love movie but it’s about two people who are both lonely and disconnected meeting someone who is experiencing the same thing.

In the end, both walk away knowing they have to make changes.

What moves me how nothing happens, how setting is very minimalistic, but they both take so much out of it.

We see characters go out and enjoy sone random things city has to offer, but they can’t it feels off and they feel alienated. Deep down they know, something is not right in their life for them to enjoy this moment