Stratosphere Girl attempts to be the film, Lost in Translation pretended to be.
It gave a dreamy interpretation of a foreigner lost in Tokyo's netherworld of "hostess" bars. A Belgian student-graduate notices disappearances of girls while working part time at a bar. This is a very real phenomena, because foreign girls are in demand in Tokyo, particularly. A few years ago a similar thing happened to an English girl in 2003. Usually some of the girls, if not most are illegally trafficked in. This film gives an impression of Japan not shown in Lost in Translation. As Angela begins to illustrate her experiences, each transition is materialized. She narrates her story weaving it within her drawings. The director uses lots of natural light and switches to hand-held camera work to give intimacy to the settings.
As she descends into the mystery of the disappearance of Larissa, she meets many archetypes of Japan's powerful underworld. she wishes she could merge with the comic world and often does. Stratosphere Girl is a dream-laden neo-noir film detailing the reality of foreign hostess bars. Its sort of an abstraction between Lost in Translation and American Splendor. her apt quote best describes "the Stratosphere Girl"'s adventure:
"When one is looking for something, everything has meaning."
It gave a dreamy interpretation of a foreigner lost in Tokyo's netherworld of "hostess" bars. A Belgian student-graduate notices disappearances of girls while working part time at a bar. This is a very real phenomena, because foreign girls are in demand in Tokyo, particularly. A few years ago a similar thing happened to an English girl in 2003. Usually some of the girls, if not most are illegally trafficked in. This film gives an impression of Japan not shown in Lost in Translation. As Angela begins to illustrate her experiences, each transition is materialized. She narrates her story weaving it within her drawings. The director uses lots of natural light and switches to hand-held camera work to give intimacy to the settings.
As she descends into the mystery of the disappearance of Larissa, she meets many archetypes of Japan's powerful underworld. she wishes she could merge with the comic world and often does. Stratosphere Girl is a dream-laden neo-noir film detailing the reality of foreign hostess bars. Its sort of an abstraction between Lost in Translation and American Splendor. her apt quote best describes "the Stratosphere Girl"'s adventure:
"When one is looking for something, everything has meaning."