Rating: 
Summary: A film on talking past one another
Review: Ms. Coppola has accomplished a remarkable feat. First, I know of no other film that captures "jet lag" and its mind-numbing physical effects on the weary traveler. Second, she gives an example of detachment and the acute introspection that can result. Bill Murray knows that much of what is being translated for him from Japanese is "lost," thus resulting in truncated and unsatisfactory communication -- in fact, the absence of communication. But it is not just the Japanese that alludes him. His interaction, even the long distance calls home, are misunderstood, taken out of context, void of meaning. The central characters of this film find themselves in Japan and are forced to re-invent or perhaps re-discover themselves. That is what this film is conveying. Anyone who has travelled extensively, and faced the long nights away from home will recognize the way the mind works in such instances, will know that there are times when one is uncertain of understanding oneself, let alone the foreign tongues on all sides of you. This film is a work of stark originality. At a time when it always seem possible to see the antecedents to every movie -- The Perfect Storm meets Ferris Bueller meets Oceans Eleven -- this work has the distinct advantage of occupying a uniquely creative, first position.
Rating:
Summary: looooved it!
Review: OOH to be in Sophia Coppola's shoes...to have an idea that is like poetry...to tell a story without sex or things blowing up!
I loved this movie.
Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson meet at the right place and time. They give one another something that the other needs. They communicate when the rest of the world appears to be concerned with superficial stuff like carpet squares and diets.
"Lost in Translation" does not mean "Oh too bad they cannot speak the language!" It means...that many of us are not listening anyhow, even in the same language.
Bill and Scarlett are 30 years apart, but are both filling a void in one another, they are listening to one another.
The sexiest scene is when her toe touches his toe!
Ohhhh yea, baby!
Finally, a movie where two minds meet, love, even converse without talking at times. The sexual tension is there...(We feel it!) BUT...
nothing happens!!!!!
After all, they are both married.
I loved this movie.
It was like a poem, and every stanza flowed into the next.
Rating: 
Summary: Music and Scenery Great!-Movie a Bore
Review: My wife and I watched this movie together and had differing oppinions. She thought it was deep, and so she liked it. I thought it was incredibly slow and boring. It's interesting, because my wife always wants me to create conversation, or make her laugh. But in watching this movie, she states that the actors didn't need to say anything, which they didn't, because they understood each other perfectly. Well, that's nice for them, but it's really terrible for us who have to watch them doing, well, almost absolutly nothing. I mean, there is a reason my wife likes me talk. Just sitting there looking at each other can get frustrating after awhile, even though my wife is beautiful to look at.
There were times that I was just so annoyed, because I would sit through various scenes just waiting, begging, pleading for Bill Murry and Scarlett Johansson to say something meaningful to each other. And what was I rewarded with for my patience? Zero. I mean they said something, but what exactly was said, was not worth all that waiting. I just couldn't believe that someone would direct a movie this way on purpoes. Maybe as an art project, but certainly not as something meant to entertain us.
To be fair, they did actually have one decent conversation with each other while laying in bed, but even then, Bill Murray was half asleep while they had it. But I can't blame him for sleeping through that dialog; sleep was starting to over take me too.
If it weren't for the beautiful shots of Tokyo and the very cool music that went with the film, and an occational chuckle that I got out of the film, I would have given only one star.
Rating: 
Summary: Polarizing
Review: Most people hate this film. People walk out of it asking "what was that?" But the people who like it, love it. It is one of the most praised films of the year and probably finished second to Lord of the Rings for Oscar's Best Picture. Therefore, it creates an interesting enigma. How can one film produce such admiration in some and disdain in most? The answer lies in its nontraditional storytelling. Writer/director Sophia Coppola decided to abandon powerful drama, instead opting for a film that focuses primarily on character development. As far as story goes, the film really lacks a large plot-arc with any kind of driving conflict. Each scene is enjoyable as little vignettes, but most viewers will search for (and not find) something larger to keep their attention. The end result is a film with an almost "Reality-Tv" feel. It is if a camera crew followed two people around Japan, just to document their lives. What saves this artsy piece is a career performance by Bill Murray. Many people would enjoy watching him standing in line at the DMV or explaining how Congress passes laws, which is about the level of excitement you should expect from this picture.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying advertisements
Review: I liked the movie, but unfortunately, before you can get to the main menu, you have to watch advertisements for the studio's other movies... you can fast-forward through them, but not skip them. Annoying. If I want commercials, I'll watch TV!
Rating:
Summary: Lost In Translation... Masterpiece...
Review: I don't know what it was about this movie... The imperfect, somewhat shaky cinematography... The subtlety of the acting... The way you could tell exactly what the actors were feeling without them speaking a word... Or maybe it was the humorous results of being an American in a very different environment. I don't know, but this movie touched me in a very special way and has since become one of my favorite movies of all time.
Rating: 
Summary: Just like honey...
Review: Judging by the number and contents of the reviews here, one who has not seen the film might be led to believe that this is a film that espouses some sort of polarizing polemics. What it actually is is a sweet, dreamlike story of two lost people, lost in a foreign land the language and customs and cultures of which they don't understand and lost in their own journeys in life, who met and made a connection and, as the vagaries of life are such, were unable to sustain this bond to the end. The coda of the film strikes the perfect note and I am not embarressed in the least to say that it puts a lump in my throat every time I watch it. As already mentioned in many other positive reviews of this film, the acting has a cinema-verite quality and is uniformly fine, especially that of young Scarlett Johansson, whose understated grace and manners belie her age. Overall, a very, very impressive effort by Ms. Coppola. PS. I find all reviews here that chastise other reviewers and question their intelligence and sanity for simply having a different opinion than their own to be distressing and unnecessary. We view films through prisms shaped by the lives we lead and if we can only agree to disagree, perhaps the world can be a better place.
Rating: 
Summary: The first movie I felt I needed to watch in fastforward.
Review: This has to be the most unbelievable and boring movies ever! I have spent time in Japan and was never able to complete 10% of what I wanted to do. Here we have two people who can find nothing interesting in all of Japan. They are just two people are depressed with their lives and we are forced to suffer with them. I could not care less how depressed they are with their lives. The only thing I was waiting for throughout the movie and sadly never happened was for them to both jump from their hotel windows killing themselves. I am most thankful that I only rented this movie, so I am only out 2 Euros for this bomb. Why, of why can we not select 0 stars???
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: I can't understand how anyone could bash this movie. It's inspiring and powerful, yet so simple. It is amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Bored to oblivion...
Review: Unlike those who went to see "Lost in translation" because of the ridiculous hype created mostly by the critics, i went to see it because mostly everyone i know who'd seen it was telling me "unless you're looking for a good 2 hours of sound sleep, don't go"..I decided to find out for myself why there were conflicting "reports" about this film. I rarely trust the "critics" but rarely doesn't mean never. Well, I would have to think and think hard at that, to remember another film which was so hyped and amounted to so much nothingness. Adding more to the mystery is that this thing even won awards. To keep things short, this is a surreally uninspired script, which employs 2 otherwise very good actors who in turn spend two hours delivering some of the most boring lines i've heard in a long time on film. Supposedly this is an intellectual comedy (now THAT's a joke) but in that case the joke must be on the audience. I found myself grinning a coupla times and basically that was it. Cheap jokes about how the Japanese mispronounce English isn't exactly what i deem "intellectual" for one thing, and for another, tired semi-pick up lines over whiskey doesn't cut it for "humour" as far as I'm concerned either..
And all this despite being positively biased because i happen to be a big fan of Murray's.. "Lost in Translation" attempts to take a quirky look at two people "trapped" in a mega-lux hotel in Tokyo who while seeing their marriages falling apart are also seeing their lives becoming epmtier and emptier and devoid of "meaning". What they do about that is wander about hopelessly, meet in the hotel bar, down some drinks and then some more, wander again, meet in the hotel bar and toos back some more drinks and have some seriously empty conversations in the process.
Uhm, is this supposed to be "deep" or something and if yes in exactly what kind of circles does this pass as deep? Or is it supposed to be "touching" as some other people claimed? Touching? Christ, if all flirting was THAT boring there'd eventually be a law against it. There was also this other line of argument from people who said that this film is good because of the stark contrast it provides to most of the mindless Hollywood films out there. Ok, I'd be willing to entertain such a noble notion, but this would mean that this film is not mindless. Which it's not, but just because a film raises the IQ bar a mere few points over the general mediocrity it doesn't mean that it automatically becomes intelligent. Lost in Translation wants to be intelligent but it can't. There's no adequate story for the film to "stand" onto and there's no clear premise that this joke of a script has. I was watching J.Murray in this film thinking that he actually performs good in it because he perfectly reflects the atmosphere of the film: boredom beyond salvage. Yes, he outdoes the audience being bored, but he had an easier job than us. We didn't have to wait hours on set just to say pseudo-intellectual script-lines. If any other actor had been in his place he'd be forced to perform just as good because "Lost in Translation would give him no other choice but look and act bored to utter tears. Now, more generally speaking, why would i care about some woman (to whom we are given no depth at all) who's bored because her photographer husband is running about on business leaving her all alone in this lux hotel. I mean, the poor thing!!!! How humdrum!!! Or a millionaire actor with a midlife crisis who's about to cash in a cool two-mill for spending a week in this hotel? I'd take the boredom for that and i wouldn't even expect any mercy from the ones around me if you know what i mean. How could you possibly identify with such paper-thin characters? Totally beyond me... Lost in Translation will sadly enter way high on the list for one of the most overhyped films in recent memory. And immediately after that it will also proudly enter the list as one of the most mediocre films to win awards in recent time. And then, it will slowly but surely head for oblivion...
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