and then The Playlist elaborates:Empty space is a powerful mark of cinema. Lost in Translation is an exercise in segregating, converging and mirroring characters within the frame.
follow the link to see the video on Vimeo:In a video essay by Fabian Broeker, images are juxtaposed and characters are brought together by the presence of a physical line. The symmetry by which Coppola captures Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson detects the equal nature of their characters. Both lost but bearing similarities in their perplexing stagnation of life, Coppola amplifies their likeness by framing Johansson and Murray in separated, mirrored, or converging manners.
https://theplaylist.net/crossing-frame- ... -20171209/
When I saw 'empty space' in the description I immediately thought of 'ma' which sounds, to me, like what the film-maker is getting at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_(negative_space)