Sofia Coppola: Between the Lines of

Lost In Translationby Kevin Greene

The Family Daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, renowned

film director of The Godfather, Apocalypse Now! and The Conversation.

Mother, Eleanor, is a designer and documentary filmmaker.

Brother Roman Coppola is also a filmmaker. Sofia is cousin to Nicholas Cage and Jason

Schwartzman as well as the granddaughter of Carmine Coppola, famed orchestral composer and conductor.

Coppola family tree.

A Life in Pictures Born May 14th, 1971 during the filming of The

Godfather. Played baby Michal Francis Rizzi at just a few weeks old.

Appeared two years later in a cameo in The Godfather Part II.

Sofia acted in a half dozen features (including four of her father’s) before filling in for Winona Ryder in The Godfather Part III.

Critical reaction to her performance allegedly drove Sofia away from acting.

Fear Not! This is not the end, dear

Sofia!

The Second Coming of Sofia

After dabbling in painting at the California Institute of Arts, Sofia meandered for a few years, uncertain of her artistic direction.

In 1998 she directed a short film entitled Lick the Star.

The darkly comic movie about a group of adolescent girls planning to poison the boys at their school touches on a number of themes that Coppola would explore in her later films.

After The Godfather Part III, Sofia turned to visual arts.

Directed a series of low budget music videos including Walt Mink’s Shine, a gem of 1990s feel good VHS quality haziness.

Modern TV at the time might have provided a little inspiration…

The Virgin SuicidesReleased in 1999, only one year after Lick the Star.

Coppola’s first feature length is a success on the festival circuit.

Explores themes of isolation, angst and gender perspectives.

Based on Jeffery Eugenides novel of the same name.

The film was followed by…

“A Small, Personal Film”

Coppola began writing the film after the success of The Virgin Suicides, which coincided with her marriage to life long friend Spike Jonze.

The film, which is based on Sofia’s own experiences in Tokyo, is allegedly inspired by her own difficulties with her own marriage.

Says she only had Bill Murray in mind for the role of Bob Harris.

A huge critical and commercial success.

Themes and Style

Lost in Translation explores themes of detachment and isolation, similar to The Virgin Suicides.

Tourism and the idea of being a visitor figures prominently into the film’s subtext.

Coppola creatively uses juxtaposition in her imagery to create a sense of how different yet connected these two cultures are.

Rhythmically Lost in Translation is a slow burn. The hand held camera often lingers on characters while Coppola’s editor, Sarah Flack, cuts the film together in Coppola’s trademark music video style.

Lance Acord’s cinematography endows Tokyo with a dreamlike, almost surreal quality.

Coppola found visual inspiration in the early films of Wong Kar-Wai.

Where East Meets Bill Murray

Connection to “A Passage to India”

Similarities Both works focus on

the life of the tourist. Communication

muddles. Sent to their country

to do a job, these Westerners treat the Easterners with some level of disdain.

Differences Drama. Central to

Forester’s novel is conflict whereas Coppola’s film is more a study in mood.

Forester’s novel features prominent Indian characters. Coppola’s film is focused entirely on its Americans.

Coppola as an auteur

Coppola seems to favor the quick elegance of musical montage, with many of her films having music video-like segments.

Furthermore, Coppola’s use of indie-rock soundtracks adds a personalized touch to her films, avoiding ubiquitous Top 40 pop songs as well as classical “scores.”

Themes of detachment, especially between generations, is prevalent in Coppola’s films.

Coppola’s films tend to contain a surrogate Sofia. Recurring motifs include karaoke/Guitar Hero, soft

focus photography, windows, water and plants.

RecentlyMarie Antoinette

(2006) Again a critical

success, but failed to take off with audiences.

Dramatic reimagining of French history.

Somewhere (2010) Another “small,

personal film.” Possible sister film to Lost in Translation.

Awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival by former boyfriend Quentin Tarantino.