Flashback or Not?

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adrien950 · #1 Post by **adrien950** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:20 pm

Hello everyone, I have a question for you all....

As previously posted, there have been discussions on whether the intro sequence to Bob's arrival in Tokyo is happening in real time and that when he arrives at the Park Hyatt we are watching a flashback. The romantic in me wants to say we are watching Bob coming back to Tokyo in hopes of finding Charlotte, but the realist in me doesn't see any real effidence to support that.
My question is this....Has Sofia Coppola heard of this theory , and if so, has she stated if this was true or not

52FM · #2 Post by **52FM** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:53 pm

I've not read anything in any reviews / interviews of the cast or Sofia regarding this theory. I've seen it on this board and imdb, but nowhere else. (And I did a lot of searching and reading reviews/interviews/articles/opinions regarding the movie after I saw it last April. Since it had been out quite a while by then, I suspect all that was going to be written (other than fan sites) had been written by then.

I don't subscribe to the flashback theory myself. To me it's contrary to the spirit that I think the film was trying to capture - that the relationship was significant yet ephemeral.

Congruous · #3 Post by **Congruous** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:10 pm

It's an interesting theory, but remember, the same sign ( on the side of a truck) shows up in the middle of the movie, when Bob and Charlotte are out in the street after they've left the strip bar. From that, I would assume that the photo of Bob is from a shoot prior to this particular trip to Tokyo.

adrien950 · #4 Post by **adrien950** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:31 pm

But what if the billboard ad was photographed while he was there the "first" time and when he sees the ad in the beginning of the film he is "remembering" the "first" time he saw that billboard with Charlotte. Possilble? I don't believe in the flashback theory either..but it would be nice,IMO.

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Congruous · #5 Post by **Congruous** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 10:48 am

Yeah, I agree it's possible.

justlikehoney · #6 Post by **justlikehoney** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:20 am

It's an interesting idea. Certainly possible. But I personally don't think it is that way.

The Shoegazer · #7 Post by **The Shoegazer** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:56 pm

I think if it was a flashback, Sofia would made it stood out a bit more but as it is he's in the car when he sees the billboard and he is getting out of the same car when he arrives at the hotel at which no one can doubt its in present not the past. I just assumed(like most people I think) he made a few shots already so I don't believe the flashback

findingcharlotte · #8 Post by **findingcharlotte** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:08 pm

Think the shots were prob done in advance..........

blades7896 · #9 Post by **blades7896** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:54 pm

To me, perhaps I'm delving a little to deep, but when Bob rubs his eyes and sees his picture it sort of tells us how pointless the whole trip is, and that he is probably also feeling that way, we live in a world with fast communications, there is no need for Bob to travel all the way to Japan to endorse this whiskey at all, it shows that really it could all have been done back home. With a lot less hassle.

This I feel is shown at the photo shoot, the camera briefly shows two older gentleman in suits that are sat down watching and clearly are a little out of place in the studio, is almost like the company, Suntory, are bringing him over to Japan as their little toy almost, to see him, to get him to appear on a riddiculous chat show etc.

There is simply no way in my mind it is a flashback.

masterp · #10 Post by **masterp** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:37 pm

i think the alst post was spot on. i really like to think that it is a flashback. the skill of a good film maker is that they unconciously make choices which leave the audience still guessing.

however i completley agree about the futility of him being in japan. tokyo is used as a metaphor for the transience of life and the transfer of information. this is ,ost clearly represented in the use of sound: compare the tranquility/nay near silence of the mount fuji golf scene/flower arranging ect, with the distressing high pitched beeps of the games parlour and the sound of the busy street'/fax machines. the clearest example is the tradional bath scene, where bob's solitude is disturbed by his wife, 5000 miles away.

Wing Fat · #11 Post by **Wing Fat** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:58 am

blades7896 wrote:... there is no need for Bob to travel all the way to Japan to endorse this whiskey at all, it shows that really it could all have been done back home. With a lot less hassle.

I disagree for a couple of reasons. First, from what I know of the Japanese they would want an "image" project like this done by Japanese photographers, directors, etc. Much easier to bring Bob to Japan than the other way around. Second, Suntory is pretty much a Japan-only company, and it seems to me it would be less hassle for them to bring Bob to Japan rather than have a third-party in the USA handling it. It's not like Honda where they have a huge presence in the USA.

adrien950 · #12 Post by **adrien950** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:15 am

there is no need for Bob to travel all the way to Japan to endorse this whiskey at all, it shows that really it could all have been done back home. With a lot less hassle.

You have to remember, it was Bob's agent who got him the Suntory gig and a spot on the "Johnny Carson of Japan's Show". Bob is a fading movie star in the U.S. , but he could be very popular still in other parts of the world such as Japan. You go were your still in demand. The trip to Japan was not just to do a job, it was to show the people who still wanted him, how much he appreciated them..in other words promote himself.

sooner77 · #13 Post by **sooner77** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:56 pm

Not to mention two million bucks.

adrien950 · #14 Post by **adrien950** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:00 am

Ahh yes....there is that. Kinda important.

silentguest · #15 Post by **silentguest** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:17 am

I believe in some interview Sofia said she wanted the film to feel like a memory. When looking back on some vivid experience in your life, your grasp of the sequence of events may not be as accurate as you remember. With her editor Sarah Flack she may have decided to play around with the timeline in order to create this effect.

Bob sees the billboard of himself. Or does he? When he rubs his eyes and looks again the next shot is of a neon sign. The same thing might be going on with Charlotte when she talks about trying ikebana before it actually happens. Or when Kelly apologises for her b.o., but during the press conference she's wearing the same red top. Wouldn't she have gone to her room and change?

Or the entire movie might be Charlotte's fantasy. During the opening shot she dreams or imagines or casts a spell and conjurs Bob into her world. In the next scene he wakes up looking disoriented.

jm · #16 Post by jm » Tue Oct 11, 2005 3:00 am

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Just Like Honey... · #17 Post by **Just Like Honey...** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:43 pm

silentguest wrote:Or the entire movie might be Charlotte's fantasy. During the opening shot she dreams or imagines or casts a spell and conjurs Bob into her world. In the next scene he wakes up looking disoriented.

I find that extremely creepy.

adrien950 · #18 Post by **adrien950** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:01 pm

silentguest wrote:
Or the entire movie might be Charlotte's fantasy. During the opening shot she dreams or imagines or casts a spell and conjurs Bob into her world. In the next scene he wakes up looking disoriented.

That is a very odd..very interesting..very different way of looking at the film.