Rating: 
Summary: It's a great film but not a comedy
Review: This is a great film! A lot of the reviewers here don't like it for two main reasons: they thought it was a comedy and it's NOT, and/or they didn't like the way it depicted Japanese culture.First, I'm going to address those two things. It was marketed as a comedy-- big mistake. Although I laughed at times, this movie is a subtle exploration of two people out of there norms, lonely, and -- well, "lost" is the right word. It is absolutely not a comedy and it's too bad that the guys who market these things tried to make it out as one. Now about all you people who think it's all racist or whatever-- I think it's quite obvious that it's not trying to put Japanese in a bad light, and I also don't think it does. It simply portrays them in the way that most Americans would relate to if they were there. The main characters are American and the sotry is about them and how they view things. Like in the elevator, Bill Murray is the tallest guy there and he's not a tall guy by our standards. Two of my firends who have been to Japan said "oh my God I know exaclty how that feels." When the Japanese try to speak English and get some of the L's and R's wrong--well, they do get it wrong. The movie didn't make you laugh about that, it just said that they do that. A lot of people just happened to think it's funny. It's not necessarily funny, but it is necessarily accurate. I know if I was trying to talk Japanese a lot of people would be laughing at me! Also, I thought it did many things to portray Japanese positively. I can't name specific things off hand, but I did think all the Japanese characters were very fun and interesting and the movie made me want to visit Japan, which I previously had absolutely no desire to do. Now then, back to the movie. It's a wonderful movie! The part of Bob must have been written specificly for Bill Murray because he is absolutely amazing. I don't know how to describe it any better than that. The girl, whose name I know but know I will mispell it, also did a fantastic job in her role. So basically, good casting. It was also a very fun movie for just identifying with loneliness and hoping to connect. And although there's that romantic aspect of meeting a stranger in an exotic place and there is some sexual tension because they are different sexes, the movie is about friendship. I really liked that fact. It has been a long damn time since a movie had two characters that weren't the same sex and didn't get it on. The only thing that kind of pissed me off was the fact that, without ruining it for somebody who hasn't seen it, sex was the thing Sofia chose to be the event that it was (no the characters didn't do it) rather than having something else serve that purpose, since the relationship between the two main characters was about friendship and not necessarily romantic. But it was forgiven when they also came to that conclusion during the fire alarm, and it also brought up the question about if guys and girls really be just friends. I hope I have cleared a few things up and given a decent review of the movie as a movie, unlike many reviewers. I also hope that this helps those of you who don't knwo whether or not to see it. Obviously it's not for everbody but I think it's a damn good movie and highly recommended. (And it's certainly much better than the god aweful Virgin Suicides!)
Rating:
Summary: follow her down to worship some god...
Review: Lost In Translation is by all means a peculiar movie. Very peculiar. The plot is sparse and expected and nothing really happens... every scene is unrealistic yet believable and ever prescient. It wasn't filmed - it was orchestrated. This is what's to be expected of the film. If you're hell-bent on seeing something with an obvious plot and realistical and/or virtuous portrayal of the outside world and human interaction, go watch any number of the crappy indie films of recent. That being said... The framework for the movie is a strangely withdrawn "love" story between middle-aged and crestallen actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and 20-some year old Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson back to the Ghost World tradition of playing characters older than herself). Bob is in Tokyo for a commercial campaign, a rut compared to his previous fame, and goes thru a typical mid-life crisis (though, as with most, not completely unwarranted) and is weighed down by a life that seems to be unsatisfying in which he's no more than prop for others. Likewise, Charlotte is in a just-starting life crisis... she travels to Tokyo with her husband John, a photographer, to whom she's been married for 2 years... no longer with the excitement of newlyweds, but not developed enough to have any real security either... They're both lost, existentially and physically, in a country where they don't understand the language and are puzzled by the customs (and yes, the cast and crew play that for everything its worth... deal with it) and disconnected from and disenchanted with what they've, until that point, imagined their lives to be. In absence of anyone else, they meet and quickly develop a friendship with an understated understanding that's the basis of every great forlorn love story, but, neither of which being willing or able to give up their lives, doesn't turn into blantantly romantic until the very end with a goodbye hug/kiss/cry/whatehaveyou. However, the movie hints (yes, hints) at this throughout with subtle glances, subtle gestures, and Charlotte's half-sarcastic/half-sincere suggestion that they run away together and start a jazz band (possibly the funniest/saddest part in the movie... but you have to see it in context to understand). So that's it... two people who feel disconnected from everything else find comfort in each other. But, as with any great novel (and whatever literature snobs may say, movies have long replaced novels, so the comparison isn't unwarranted), the plot is the least important part of a story. This movie is truly beautiful in every way... it's orchestrated and completely artificial, like a ballet, and has much of the same emotional effect. The movie is slow and often has long periods of what seems like nothing. However, everything in the film is symbolic of the characters... of their lives, of their feelings for each other... nothing is directly stated, everything is suggested, bringing back brilliant use of allegory that defined pre-code films (or for you literature snobs, the Symbolist movement) in a very modern way. The movie is filled with collages of light and sound... neon scenery blurs in the fast moving glare of a car window, seas of umbrellas obscure crowded gray streets, unrelated sounds and music gradually blend into one unintelligable wall of white noise... and the characters quietly and anonymously (to everyone except the audience) exist within it all. The camera lightly shakes in rhythm with with certain songs... ordinary things take on odd (processed) colors and seem strangely beautiful... One particular scene which moved me was when Charlotte was in a park, tying a white ribbon onto some sort of tree, and glanced over to see a marriage ceremony (? I've only seen the movie once, but I think that's what is was) in which the procession walks in perfect time with the music (and the camera lightly shakes with the rhythm, too)... thru her eyes and expression and the sounds and colors (as well as the knowledge of the present state of her own marriage), such a simple thing takes on mythological proportions with absolute urgency. Another fascinating scene that is a perfect example of this atmospheric, ethereal, and almost musical approach to filmmaking is a scene where Bob, Charlotte, and some of her friends are singing karaoke. Bob is singing along in a drunken and almost unnervingly languid voice to the Roxy Music song "More Than This", as the camera jolts the scene in the opposite of languid, rushing around frantically from person to person, turning the scene into an indistiguishable blur of color and sound (background noises slowly overshadow the music), giving everything a dreamlike quality of imperminence. So that's Lost In Translation (I know, I rambled a lot, sorry... but you kind of have to to describe it)... ethereal, atmospheric, artificial, and beautiful... The plot is irrelevant, but the characters are more believable and beautiful than real people could ever be. Oh, and the music is great (Roxy Music, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc...). Watch it. If you don't love it, you smell!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I really enjoyed this film--it's one of my recent favorites. People who have never felt out of place both in space and time may find this movie to be boring. As eccentric as Tokyo is, Lost in Translation really shows some of the more extreme aspects of the Tokyo lifestyle: the television shows, the nightlife, the restaurants, Bill Murray's uninvited "guest"... There's something I had difficulty with, however. Tokyo is my favorite large city, and the fact that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson found themselves bored there was difficult for me to understand. People-watching, window-shopping, and eating in Tokyo can be considered to be among the finest in the world. Yet the characters seemed to lack the desire for adventure. That is, until they met each other. So is this movie a romance? The subtlety of their relationship leaves viewers to come to their own conclusions. This is something I really appreciated about this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: I so wanted to like this movie but no matter how much I tried I just couldn't.It was just plain boring and I saw no emotional connection at all between the main characters.
What with all the hype this movie received I surely expected much more than was delivered.
I just don't get it and I usually love the off beat,different and unusual indy type film but was utterly disappointed with this movie.
I wonder if the name Coppola has anything to do with all the praise this film is getting-of course it does-no other explanation!
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: quite simply this film is so boring that the only ones who can claim to love it are folks more pretencious then the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Watch Monsoon Wedding instead
Review: somparing this film to Monsoon Wedding only goes to show how some hype from out of touch critics can actually lead to a film with nothing to it actually being nominated. If you want to see a film with real substance then see Monsoon Wedding.
Rating:
Summary: horrid
Review: Two rich and spoiled brats, one old the other young, complain about how horrible life is. If you want to spend 20 bucks for the DVD be my guest.
Rating:
Summary: just boring
Review: to state it simply, this film has no plot, no action and no real meaning other than trying to make us identify with a couple of rich and spoiled bores who despite having an all expense paid trip to a wonderful city do nothing but complain about how difficult their life is...it seems like only a girl whose father was a famous director and who never had to work a day in her life could write and direct such a film..come to think of it..that is who directed this film.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, Boring, Boring
Review: This movie is full of dead-ends and inconsistencies.
If you like drama or comedy, do not watch this movie.
It will put you to sleep. If you like dull moronic
dialog with no substance, by all means, see it or buy
it. Why the Bob character has fleeting relationships with
women other than the one he is in love with is anyone's
guess. But, then again, by the end of the movie, you will
be asking yourself "who cares?". If you want to see a
movie about Japanese culture, rent an international film
with subtitles. The number of stars I pick for a movie
reflects how many times I would like to see it. I couldn't
sit through this movie again. It is a 1 star. P.S. Watch the paper on the straw in the bar scene ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely, though hampered by some misguided humor
Review: Lost in Translation has a beautiful, dreamy feel to it. Loneliness and the universal search for identity feature as the major thematic focuses of the film.
Two strangers who superficially appear to be very different (one being a older, fading actor and the other a young newlywed) share a common need for companionship and understanding.
While I loved the majority of the film, much of the humor that centered around the culture shock each character experienced was misguided and too stereotype-driven to be genuinely funny - instead the jokes came off as ignorant and cliché.
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