Lost In Translation

I love film! But I watch very few. The other guys in the band probably out watch me 20 to 1. So when I pick a movie it had better be amazing. The thing that makes movies the highest art form (in my opinion) is that they are the combination of so many other art forms; acting, cinematography, writing, and music among them. Occasionally a film will get all of it right.

I recently saw "Lost In Translation". I know I'm a few years behind! But it worked on so many levels for me. One way was the way it invoked an atmosphere, a mood. You really felt Charlotte's displacement and growing realization that her inability to understand Tokyo was parallel to her growing sense of isolation in her marriage. And there was one scene that captured it perfectly in fifty seconds and without words. I'm going to post it below. If you haven't seen the film it will have little impact with just the briefest context I put it in.

But for me, when I saw this scene it was an amazing experience, and a lot of that was because the music that is underscoring it perfectly captures the whole feel and reflects the inner dialog that Charlotte must be having. It's "Tommib" by Squarepusher, and as a song it is nothing, but paired here with picture and in the context of the movie it has impact.

For me it put me back to a day in the Lakeview Hotel in Nanchang, China. Looking out over this completely foreign place I knew my world was changing in ways that I couldn't quite grasp but I knew it would be different from then on. That's the power of good film.

So my question for you is, what film scene has made an indelible impression on you? What has gotten under your skin after you've watched and won't leave your mind? What scene is the perfect marriage of picture, words, and music?