Lost in Translation - Amazing movie, go see it

[empath]

It's not a movie for everyone, you have to be in the mood for an understated, arty movie, but for what it was, it was absolutely perfect.

Bill Murray plays an over-the-hill American actor who is in Japan being paid 2 million dollars to endorse a Japanese Whiskey. He doesn't know the language, has no friends there, and knows nothing about the culture. His wife calls him and faxes him constantly, but its about carpet samples and how his kids don't really miss him much, nothing to anchor him back home. He's a man who's been cut adrift, floating in a sea of an alien society.

Scarlett Johansson is in Tokyo with her husband, a big-name photographer who is doing a photoshoot for a new up and coming band. She is young and worried that her marriage was a mistake.

Both of them end up in the hotel bar, and eventually they connect, and these too emotionally lost people find a connection to each other, although not in a way I've ever seen in a movie before. They talk, they have fun, but they never move beyond those kinds of late night philosophical conversations that you can only have with people you've only just met. You really get the feeling of giddiness and endless possibilities you can feel only when you're with someone new. But they both have their own lives, and they both realize trying to make their relationship anything more than that may only kill it. The greatest loves are always the ones that could have been.

it's a beautifully shot movie, too; a love letter to Japan, and Sophia Coppola takes her time, often spending time showing us slices of life in Japan.. lovely visual haikus. Bill Murray swinging a golf club, Scarlett Johansson tying a prayer to a tree in a monastary. So many great scenes where nothing really happens, but they'll affect you all the same.

I really can't recommend it enough. If you love movies, you just need to see it.

[zartan]

wow. great to hear that endorsement. will probably check it out today.

[Light Touch]

It's already playing in DC?

I plan to see it this weekend in Bmore. I've been hype to see this movie for about 4 months now.

[Emansurcuber]

yeah i wanna go see this movie too

[NIN75]

i've heard/saw/read nothing but good things about this movie-however, today in the sun it only got 2.5 stars (but who cares it is the sun)

[ransom]

Bill Murray is top notch in this. I saw it last night at Bethesda Row, and really enjoyed the entire film.

[tranKwilized]

Bill Murray = Underestimated & Underappreciated actor

[Muramasa]

Originally posted by tranKwilized
Bill Murray = Underestimated & Underappreciated actor

:werd::yes:

[Alexis]

Thank you for the reccomendation :wink:

[Light Touch]

Originally posted by NIN75
i've heard/saw/read nothing but good things about this movie-however, today in the sun it only got 2.5 stars (but who cares it is the sun)

The Sun is a shit newspaper and the film critics are idiotic.

[tranKwilized]

This movie was -fucking unbelievable-

Seriously. Best movie I've seen in a LONG time.

If your looking to go see a movie for entertainment value, this is not the one. But if you want to see a quality film, I gurantee you will like this movie. For once I'm happy to say that I really thought they ended it perfectly as well.

I'm going to see this one atleast one more time before it leaves theatres.

[bboyneko]

Ok, Im going to be the voice of reason here and warn everyone to NOT go see this....

--------------------------
"flat-out bad.....Lost in Translation is another feature shot on 35mm film with an A-list cast. An amateur with a DV camera would be more welcome under these circumstances, or even the director herself just wandering with her friends across the street from her father's San Francisco offices into Chinatown. But a well-heeled princess with a professional crew struggling to prove her funky street cred ends up feeling lost indeed. "
- Gregory Weinkauf
http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2003-09-18/film3.html/1/index.html


"Coppola lacks a firm grip on this material, and it starts to get away from her midway through."
-Lawrence Toppman
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/entertainment/movies/6864215.htm


"It's all post card stuff: "Temples of Kyoto are lovely w/o tourists. Tokyo is an insane blast of color. Met a movie star. Wish you were here. At least Ms. Coppola doesn't go the "starry eyed fan falls for the world weary star" route (big thanks all around) but what remains is uninteresting."
-Cranky Critic
http://www.crankycritic.com/archive03/lostintranslation.html


"the film images that megalopolis as repellent, mindless, neon and noisy, its few English speakers laughably unintelligible out of old racist stereotypes. Worse, the nation and its culture are handled with jarring provincial condescension and contempt...Because it lacks focus as well as confidence in its story and stars, Lost in Translation squanders a good opportunity."
-Donald Levit
http://www.reeltalkreviews.com/browse/viewitem.asp?type=review&id=593


"I’m not a huge fan of “The Virgin Suicides”, Sofia Coppola’s mysteriously beloved debut.... Now Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter and Spike Jonze’s wife is back with another film riding on a wave of critical praise and, again, I must say I don’t quite see the alleged genius at work.....Sofia Coppola could make some killer music videos, and maybe someday she’ll make a consistently great feature, but this vaporous, half-charming little ditty isn’t it. "
http://www.montrealfilmjournal.com/review.asp?R=R0000761
-Kevin Laforest

"Attractive and pleasant as it is, there’s no escaping the impression that it feels like an overly hip exercise in soul-searching for those who thought American Beauty really did “look closer” at life. "
-Jeremy Heilman
http://www.moviemartyr.com/2003/lostintranslation.htm


"If Sofia Coppola inherited the family business and made "Godfather: Part IV," the whole movie would take place in the gloomy Corleone study, with Michael sipping Scotch as sister Connie rambled on about her bad marriages.
-Bob Campbell
http://www.nj.com/movies/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1063345435315920.xml


"LOST IN TRANSLATION is slow-moving. Nothing happens and there is nowhere to go in Tokyo. The two main characters are stunning bores. You would not want to spend an hour with either of them, even though Bill Harris (Bill Murray) is a Hollywood movie star! He has no stories. He’s depressed. He does not appreciate his two million dollars for a week of commercials in Japan. He wants to go home!"
-Victoria Alexander
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1125647/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=21&rid=1203879

----------------------------------

Yes, I hated Lost in Translation. I was eager to go, I read all the great reviews, I was ready to be blown away! My 2 years of japanese in college served me well as it helped me understand what was being said in Japanese...boy oh boy I couldnt wait to see this! The movie begins with a shot of a teenage ass..only its supposed to be a mid twenties ass..but anyhoo

In a word, hated it. It was long, boring, uninteresting and unoriginal. Yes Bill Murray was great, yes there were some pretty shots, but if I wanted to see pretty shots of Tokyo I would get a coffee table book on Tokyo.

Scarlett Johansson stars as Bill Murrays way too young for him love interest, she was born November 22nd, 1984 making her only about 18 at the filming of this movie, possibly 17. Yet she is thrown in the film as a supposedly 24ish married woman. Bleh. She is portayed as deep and soul searching by her listening to self-help cd's and visiting temples and going after 50 year old men.

The most deep and artsy thing about this film is the great, high-brow humor that involves making fun of the Japanese! HAHA! I Love rascist humor! Them nutty asians,w ith their squinty eyes and their inability to pronounce the letter "r" and "L" And there are GREAT sophisticated pot-shots at the Japanese and how short they are! hee hee! Those silly short people. I love it when they say "rat pack" instead of brat pack and say "lip my stockings" instead of rip my stockings. HA HA

The film makes a very deep and artsy statement: "if you spend time in a foreign country all alone you’ll be alone and lonely"

The movie is very good at the realism bit, like having Scarlett's boring, uninteresting character stub her toe so bad it requires hospitalization yet we see her running on it the next day. Japanese medicine must be good..also I like how they realistically have a big hollywood actor, even a washed up one being left completely alone in a hotel with nothing to do.

This movie was great...I felt like I was there..sitting..and staring..at nothing..and sometimes when the characters were trying to sleep, why, I'd feel sleepy too..such great directing! The characters are in a constant state of insomnia in the film, and I found myself desperately trying to sleep as well.

Sarcasm aside, I found this movie to be as boring bland and overated as "Traffic." This is an artsy film for those who consider USA TODAY to be sophisticated journalism. Sofia blatantly rips off her Fathers directing style, giving us nothing original, or interesting to look at. There is nothing artsy about showing people going thru daily activities when other, more educated and experienced directors would have cut. See, doing something as realistic as making a cell phone call and being put on hold and waiting..waiting..waiting...most directors would say hey, as realistic as that is, lets not force the audience to sit thru that and cut that out of the script entirely...not sofia! Shes like, lets make the audience sit thru everything! No matter how boring or unnecessary for the advancement of the plot..well considering I have no plot in this mess of a story, i guess thats ok!

Sofia's attempt at deep film making:

-showing the faceless servant society of japan as exactly that...faceless..she would deliberately frame the shot so the faces of waiters and taxi drivers are out of the picture

-First 30 minutes...bill murray point of view..next 30 minutes...Scarlett's point of view..last bit of film..drag on and on with both their views

-Instead of showing sex scene, insinuate it by having two Champaign glasses on table the next day

-Cleverly insert a poke in the ribs at mainstream hollywood by placing a completely unnecessary caricature of an anorexic Cameron Diaz

-Will the lovers embrace? Return to their marriages? elope? Lets not tell the audience! They dont anything as satisfying as say, resolution after sitting through this torture

anyway...."well always have tokyo"

summary: dont see this unless you find drying paint to be riveting entertainment and "artistic"

http://www.jehovahswitnessonline.com/images/lost1.jpg

http://www.jehovahswitnessonline.com/images/lost2.jpg

http://www.jehovahswitnessonline.com/images/lost3.jpg

[GimmeABreakBeat]

well dan you know i agree with you. you heard me bitch enough about it after we left.

you know a movie sucks when a quarter of the way through it your wondering when its going to be over, fidgeting in your seat, and desperately wishing you had a cigarette.

[RevisionC]

I saw it the other day, and I thought it was rather decent. Not the best movie I've seen lately. But it was still decent. Definatly have to have the patience for it though. Moved a bit slow at times. But it still made me laugh and think. It sort of made me think about that movie "My first mister". Was along the same lines of that....but with a bit more comedy thrown in.

Would I see it again? Maybe. But only if I had a copy on video or something.

I still wish they told what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johansson at the very end of the movie where he wispers in her ear.

Oh well......things are better left unsaid I guess.

[rajdeep]

I saw this movie last night, and I do have to say it was a "huh?". It's good for a at home video screening where there are other ppl. around you and you can make loud comments about life or catch up with your laundry. Sure, it's an artsy movie but it didn't really convey much feeling other than the "souls connecting" angle.

But I do have to say the photography was excellent. We don't see such skills in motion pictures anymore.

Yeah, I'd like to know what Bill Murray whispers in her ear... :hmm:

What I find strange is - don't these guys ever exchange numbers or addresses to stay in touch? I'd do so. :shrug:

[SCHLiTZ]

:stupid:

saw this a couple weekends ago and have pretty much the same opinion.... great cinematography but little plot or meaning. it's the same witty bill murray from every other movie he's in except now it is shot and edit better.

don't waste your time. i'm sorry i did.

[retail]

boring.

i giggled a couple times, and it re-affirmed my desire to one day travel to japan.

[mike48ride]

This is the best movie i've seen in a long time.

[bboyneko]

i cant beleive you thought this was a good movie. Why?

[sassypance]

i knew that was coming dan :wink:

i still wanna see it, it looks really funny

[retail]

it isn't funny.

at all.

[sassypance]

hmm it looked like it :shrug:

[bboyneko]

its funny if you like rascist humor

[sassypance]

hmm ok nevermind...

u know how i got all pissy off of the user with the 'kkk' thing... racist humor sucks!

*for the record, he was into racing and kkk is a company, it had nothing to do with the american KKK*

[Wickity]

:rolleyes:
Step 1. Breathe In
Step 2. Breathe Out
Step 3. Let It Go
Step 4. Breathe In
Step 5. Breathe Out
Repeat 4 and 5 as needed.

[sassypance]

that's what i get for assuming though... oh well... back to the topic at hand.

[LaZyCrZy]

Originally posted by tranKwilized
Bill Murray = Underestimated & Underappreciated actor


heheh especially in Kingpin

[DRG420]

he's great in Where the Buffalo roam. He plays Hunter S. Thompson.
He took of a whole season of saturday night live off for the role.
He was so involved in Thompson's character that for months afterwards he
would only immitate Thompson. It's at various BlockBuster's check it out.

[PYVND]

Bill Murray is a great actor. I saw this movie on DVD a couple of weeks ago. After it was finished, I was like, why did the director win an Oscar for this? It isn't that good. But it is. It is better than you think at first, when the credits are rolling. I am still thinking about it two weeks later.

[PYVND]

Another movie that I liked was School of Rock. I was surprised to see it was written by the same guy that wrote "Chuck and Buck". We liked that movie (although it is not for everyone) and it is nice to see that guy getting into bigger movies. I may have to see SoR again before I return it--there is a lot going on in that movie.

[bakednotfried]

There seems to be no middle ground on this movie....people either love it,or they hate it.
I think it's one of the best movies I've seen in a while...I don't know if it had anything to do with living in Japan for six months,but it sure as hell made me want to go back.:raveon:

[zartan]

i loved it.

it's not racist. jesus. japanese culture *IS* very strange, especially to western eyes. tokyo is fucking weird. deal with it. is "road trip" racist because it portrays an element of middle class american society?

photography was superb. very subtle, understated, one of the best movies I've seen recently. and yeah, it definitely makes me want to hit tokyo ASAP...hopefully next year.

[Metalheadz038]

Yeah I enjoyed this movie too.

[bakednotfried]

:lessthanthree:
http://tokyoyakei.cool.ne.jp/tokyo/ginza/ginza-6.jpg