Strip club scene

Discuss the fabulous movie Lost In Translation!

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#41 Post by Guest » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:23 pm

Blissbomb wrote:I think your wrong, I think Bob represents every married man in the western world. The spark has obviously gone out of his marriage and why has this happened, because his wife is thinking about every thing else but him. Why do women lose all spontiniaty after they have been married for a few years? Why do women become so materialistic? Bob feels like a pack horse that has to bring home the money and then get treated like a door mat for the effort.

When Bob was on the phone to his wife, if she had only said "I miss you, I love you, I need you " and he wouldnt have been lost.
You've answered your own question. Why do women lose spontaneity? BECAUSE SHE HAS TO THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE! :cry: She has children and he has a job which takes him away from home. SHE didn't forget Adam's birthday, SHE's left sorting the carpet out for the study. SHE's left with the hassles of bringing up his daughter Zoe. It's not so clear cut. They are both suffering the snuffing out of the spark ... and it happens when the kids arrive...just as Bob says in the "bed scene". He doesn't tell her he loves her till it's too late and the phone call has ended. To view it all as heis wife's fault is to miss the pathos of their marriage. It's neither and both of their faults :(

MMapaka

Re: Excellent

#42 Post by MMapaka » Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:29 am

bloomer wrote:Really enjoying everyones posts. Some spirited debate. For my two cents, I think the strip club was an excellent part of the movie...very funny how Charlotte is incredulous when she walks in and Bob says goodbye to the stripper upside down.
i just love when Bob asks Charlotte if she wants a drink and she replies INSTANTLY "Let's Go" with a beautiful smile

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#43 Post by Chicken » Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:56 am

I make my triumphant return with some new thoughts on the purpose of this strip club scene. It's already been mentioned before, but I have to bring it up again: the scene was purposely used to get an R rating. Why does it need one? The answer seems to have eluded for me for so long, but after thinking about it I marvel at how obvious the answer is.

There's a large difference between a PG-13 rating and an R rating. The R rating for Lost in Translation is used to create uncertainty, more specifically, whether or not Bob and Charlotte are going to have sex. We keep watching Lost in Translation because we want to find out how far their relationship is going to go, so if this movie had been slapped with a PG/PG-13 rating, the uncertainty is gone, and it's more likely that the two AREN'T going to have sex. With an R rating, however, we are kept in constant uncertainty about whether or not there is going to be that one gratuitous sex scene responsible for pushing the rating over the top. This is part of the reason why the scene where they fall asleep without sex becomes so magical, it's been building up with expectation for the entire movie. Without the strip club scene, I have to believe this movie completely falls apart.

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#44 Post by jml98 » Sat Apr 16, 2005 2:27 pm

Chicken wrote:

There's a large difference between a PG-13 rating and an R rating. The R rating for Lost in Translation is used to create uncertainty, more specifically, whether or not Bob and Charlotte are going to have sex. We keep watching Lost in Translation because we want to find out how far their relationship is going to go, so if this movie had been slapped with a PG/PG-13 rating, the uncertainty is gone, and it's more likely that the two AREN'T going to have sex. With an R rating, however, we are kept in constant uncertainty about whether or not there is going to be that one gratuitous sex scene responsible for pushing the rating over the top. This is part of the reason why the scene where they fall asleep without sex becomes so magical, it's been building up with expectation for the entire movie. Without the strip club scene, I have to believe this movie completely falls apart.
I don't know if that's true...the way the MPAA works is this: The moviemakers pay a fee to have the MPAA rate their movie based on its content (i think this contradicts the general perception that movies are automatically rated, but this is not true. In fact, when a movie is not submitted for rating, that is when it gets NR - not rated - designation) I doubt if the moviemakers can use the rating system to their advantage (in this case, to "create uncertainty"). That would be interesting, though, if they could (and maybe i'm wrong; all this was just based on my perceptions)

i think the movie got the R rating because of the drinking, smoking and the one nude scene, but don't quote me.
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#45 Post by jm » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:02 pm

"[quote:0cc9c54238="Chicken"]We keep watching Lost in Translation because we want to find out how far their relationship is going to go, so if this movie had been slapped with a PG/PG-13 rating, the uncertainty is gone, and it's more likely that the two AREN'T going to have sex.[/quote:0cc9c54238]
I like your point -- but you mean "keep watching it the first time" -- why do we watch it the second and twenty-second? :wink:

It also shows their attitude toward sex for the sake of sex, and lets you know that they're not going to have sex just because it's the obvious things to do."
Last edited by jm on Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#46 Post by Guest » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:12 am

The strip club scene is also important because it serves to separate Bob and Charlotte from the Japanese friends they partied with the night before. Charlie and friends are ogling the strippers while Bob nervously waits for Charlotte. Bob and Charlotte are after something more, even if they're not sure what it is. When two people start to connect, a sort of calm reserve sets in. This is happening to Bob and Charlotte at this point.

I have to say I can't get that great strip tune out of my head. It's a hilarious song and the percussion in it is fantastic.

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#47 Post by You Make it Easy » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:50 am

Guest wrote:I have to say I can't get that great strip tune out of my head. It's a hilarious song and the percussion in it is fantastic.
Yah everytime that scene comes up, I can't help but sing :lol:

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#48 Post by Silk » Tue Apr 19, 2005 7:29 am

Yay
I adore that song.
Too bad that it wasn't in the soundtrack album. Has anyone got the The Teaches of Peaches album? Is it good?

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#49 Post by Azshi » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:09 pm

I listened to it at a record shop and I don't think it's worth buying.

Within the context of the movie the song was awesome, but listening to it on its own became extremely repetative and boring.

The bass tracks were nice, but the rest of the music seemed a little too bare and the lyrics lost novelty after awhile.

If you like that kind of pounding, dirty electronic stuff, though, I recently found out about M.I.A. Her voice might get on some people's nerves, but check out the song sample for Galang at her website http://www.miauk.com/. The song pics up a lot from there, but the demo isn't that long.

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#50 Post by Guest » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:53 am

I'm a Disco Biscuit fan. If you've heard their stuff, you'd understand why I like it. Some people do find it boring.

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Yes, I think teenagers can understand the film

#51 Post by adl618 » Wed Apr 20, 2005 10:52 am

I am 33 years old, but I agree that teenagers could really understand the film, not all, maybe a small minority even. But this discussion made me think back to when I was 16 or 17, I really loved and totally understood and felt such strong feelings for some "art house" films such as the French films "Three colors" series in the 80's. So I remember this, and totally think that a teenager could totally understand and feel deeply for this movie. Its all to do with the personality.

By the way I am filled with emotion to see that there is still so much discussion on this Forum. I haven't been here since last year. I recently heard the soundtrack to LiT and it made me think to check out this forum again. I was thinking for sure it would be down, like the last one last year which went down. But amazingly no! There are many people here still! It really goes to show what an amazing and touching movie LiT is.

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Re: Yes, I think teenagers can understand the film

#52 Post by jml2 » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:53 pm

adl618 wrote:I am 33 years old, but I agree that teenagers could really understand the film, not all, maybe a small minority even. But this discussion made me think back to when I was 16 or 17, I really loved and totally understood and felt such strong feelings for some "art house" films such as the French films "Three colors" series in the 80's. So I remember this, and totally think that a teenager could totally understand and feel deeply for this movie. Its all to do with the personality.
:) I agree, same for me and my memory of that age

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#53 Post by Just Like Honey... » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:18 pm

I like listening to the song, but then when I tried to download some of her other stuff, I realized that if I had ever heard it outside the context of LiT for the first time, I probably would have hated it profusely. Nuff said.
I'd rather be a gear in a big, deterministic, physical machine than just some random swerving.

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#54 Post by jml98 » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:45 pm

Just Like Honey... wrote: if I had ever heard it outside the context of LiT for the first time, I probably would have hated it profusely
The music in the movie is good, but i don't think i would listen to "Too Young" 459 times if it wasn't for LiT. When i hear that song, i think of that little party in the cramped apartment. When i hear "Sometimes" i think of the taxi ride over the rainbow bridge, and of Charlotte's smile when she looks at Bob. When i hear "Girls" i think of a jetlagged Bob, rubbing his eyes and looking and the beautiful neon. When i hear "Just Like Honey", i think of the inaudible whisper and Bob and Charotte's faces after realizing that they'll never see each other again. I could go on and on ("Alone in Kyoto" --> Charlotte's trip and the beautiful whiteness of Kyoto, for example) but my point is that whenever i hear that music it reminds me of the movie. And, because music plays an important part in the movie (because it is a vital part of the atmosphere in a lot of the scenes), it gives me some of the feelings i get when i watch the movie. I feel a sense of longing, emptiness; all the feelings I get when I watch the movie. The music by itself is good, but its the emotional connection that makes it great.
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#55 Post by Just Like Honey... » Sun Apr 24, 2005 11:11 pm

Well, to be honest, I like every song in the movie in itself (except that raunchy Peaches), and yeah, LiT is kind of a bonus in the sense that it brings out all of the hidden emotion in the soundtrack... :)
I'd rather be a gear in a big, deterministic, physical machine than just some random swerving.

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#56 Post by hull_street » Sun Apr 24, 2005 11:18 pm

jml98 wrote:When i hear "Just Like Honey", i think of the inaudible whisper and Bob and Charotte's faces after realizing that they'll never see each other again.
I recall the feeling that "Just Like Honey" had been redefined to me, as I first watched LiT. I had spent my teen years listening to the song, but it had never held any real meaning to me, until I heard it paired-up with the image of Charlotte separating from Bob, newly confident and content. It was a glorious song to end the film on.

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#57 Post by jml2 » Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:59 am

good posts guys :)
ditto for me on everything everyone said
isn't it an amazing achievement, to be so deeply affecting

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#58 Post by Azshi » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:37 pm

I've read several critics complain that the problem with movie soundtracks is that they usually need to rely on the film's power to stand up; that it's a bad thing that we associate the music with moments from the film.

I too listen to the soundtrack to purposely evoke feelings from the movie, so it's funny that what some consider a negative trait is exactly what keeps us listening to the music.

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#59 Post by A moment of silence » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:33 pm

I believe this scene is cool. i had the song before I watched the movie, so I was singing it. this was funny too, Bob was going to help the girl when she bent...heheh
I am refering to the first comments of the threat where you guys were talking about age and understanding this movie. i am 17 and I understood the movie but in a very superficial way, not deep. I never got why he did not stay and so forth, then after thinking for a while I realized. I mean, you do need to have had experience with relationships or long years in this planet to know very well about this specific story and conclusion of the story. Anyway, there are young teens who probably watched it, but nobody gets it like the adults. It is still an excelent film.
Oh, and the scene is fun too when Bob asks Charlotte if she wants a drink and she says: let's go?-- hehe, it's uncomfortable for us girls to see prostitutes showing everything they have.. Anyway, that's all for now.

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#60 Post by 52FM » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:12 pm

AMOS - I enjoy hearing your points of view on the movie. It's from a very different perspective as you say - given your age.

It may take someone in Charlotte's or Bob's age and/or situation to fully grasp what was going on in their heads - but after a couple of viewings and reading the boards I think you would easily see the beuaty of this connection they had - despite its temporary state.
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