Late night rambling odes to Sofia Coppola

I re-watched Lost in Translation with a friend recently, and discovered I hadn't really watched it the first time. Whether it's a superb movie or it just poignantly reflects my current state of affairs, I can't tell. The female lead (Scarlett Johansson) is in a highly enviable rut- directionless, accompanying a partner abroad and nearly going batty in the empty space and time while friends back home cheep, "Have the most amazing time!" She and a washed up actor on a promo tour (Bill Murray) connect when they are overcome with loneliness.

While the movie itself isn't powerful, epic or stirring... it is so right. It's also sweetly ironic and good humored at the ridiculous situations being abroad presents. Great quotes from the film here.

After quietly escaping bed without waking the sleeping husband, I've been sitting in the similarities between me at the moment and LiT as I dawdle online and try to occupy my brain until I finally become sleepy. And because it's 2 am and the neural channels think they're clever at this hour, this popped out.


ScarJo, I feel your pain
though I wish I didn't know
nothing warm and real
just far and steel
watching alone a city passes by
too alone to cry, void inside, no way to smile

overseas, unseen
can't relate to my old scene
language ain't the only barrier
had true ground, life bit and shook me like a terrier
no role, just expat and attached
glamorous skyscraper life, girl just along for the ride
only so many hours a day can be slept away
nightly stealing from sweet's embrace
to stare again at space
laptop games and rhymes lame
hoping to keep me entertained
just numb the pain of the novacaine
hating the lack of feeling
cold and reeling

on the other side of the world
not just the street signs are foreign
lofty dreams fade under the torrent of
days lost inside or wandering
stuck inside my head, never more than pondering
what's become of my life
what's become of me
who's this person who sits gazing blankly?

why am I not fluent?
language, work and life?
what happened, what part dried up
offering only sighs up
but watch out
I'm going to size up
ocean-sized competition
throw down what's left of my ambition
I may not recognize the expression in the window
it may be a chance to reinvent myself though