Rating: 
Summary: Do I Need a Hearing Aid?
Review: This film left me wondering whether I needed a hearing aid. But I think the scene in question involved deliberate, sly ambiguity - already something clever for the viewer to appreciate. The film was a little slow moving (but only if your aesthetic sensibilities are principally shaped by video games), a little understated and, in short, it was a gem. The DVD contains "deleted scenes." Of those deleted scenes, I wished the one titled "Charlotte and robots" had not been deleted. Film buffs who enjoy finding cinematic allusions to earlier films should find allusions to "The Third Man" and to "Betelgeuse," as well as others which I failed to notice.
Rating: 
Summary: Lost in Translation - Old and New Japan
Review: Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola, is an interesting movie. Seeing Japan from western foreigners¡¦ point of view. Tokyo and Kyoto have two same syllables ¡§kyo¡¨ and ¡§to¡¨, but just put the words in reverse position, they represent the old and new Japan. What is geniune beauty? Properious city life or tranquility of temples? What makes the movie so special? I guess it talks about the conection of strangers in foreign place. Language, culture, distance, race, food, lifestyle ¡K everything is so different from home. Does loneliness make you know yourself better or make you get lost? Light, music, alcohol, killing eye contact, warm temperature of human body, can they make you feel better or just get more confused? I gonna find the answer in Tokyo ¡V a mixture of known and unknown.
Rating:
Summary: This film is brilliant in subtle ways....
Review: A box office special effects hit it is not. Hollywood, however needs more human films like this. These stories about the interplay between different people, who may only meet for but a short time in their life, and may be world's apart age-wise, are important. Basically, Bill Murray plays a washed-up actor who decides to take a commercial gig in Japan, pending his next role. Murray feels like a fish out of water down there, and ponders returning early until he meets an American girl, brilliantly played by Scarlett Johansen, who feels the same as him. Her recent husband, played by Giovanni Ribissi, tends to neglect her alot as he's working on his own career as a photographer. Inevitably Murray and Johansen become friends and explore Japan together. If you like independent films, and you can be patient, this film is worth the trip.
Rating:
Summary: True romance
Review: "Romance in Hollywood? Have 'em meet cute." So said one old Hollywood scriptwriter. And it's an idea that turns up with sickening regularity in romantic comedies. "Lost in Translation" is a romance (kind of) and a comedy (kind of) where the romance is more genuine than that and the humor is more natural than we usually get in the mainstream. It's always dangerous when excessive adulation is built up by the media, but for me "Lost in Translation" overcomes that. Despite the over-reaction, this is not a cure for cancer. Nor did it ever pretend to be. Blame the media for the rest. It's a sweet, sad, gentle, sometimes sardonic movie. It shows an odd side of Tokyo (where I worked for three years) yet it shows a side that IS there. The karaoke scene was hilariously true to life. Watch Japanese kids coming on like kids from the L.A. "hood" for an even bigger laugh. The last place in the world I'd expected to be called "Homey" with pointed finger gestures was Tokyo. Only one scene, with the Japanese-speaking doctor, didn't quite ring true. Someone would have made an effort to translate. But it isn't an objective documentary on Tokyo. It's about how Tokyo feels to two jet-lagged, insomniac slightly lost individuals who fall - at least a little - in love. For them, as for us, consciousness selects what we experience. Look at the theme of windows in the movie. Seeing but cut off from the world around. It's fine to watch on DVD, even better on a big screen. But watch it closely. Just note how the things they experience reflect on their own lives - a Japanese wedding, impenetrable to Charlotte as any marriage might be to an outsider. Neither of these characters pretends to a closeness with the culture they do not possess. Finally, all I really have to say is that it moved me. A lot. The last words we don't hear. A perfect Zen koan. Bob and Charlotte deserve a little privacy, and deserve something that is between them and only between them
Rating:
Summary: News from Noisewhere
Review: There are 966 user reviews at the time that I write this, so I realize the futility of adding yet another voice to the chaos that will probably never be completely sorted through completely by anyone thinking about purchasing this movie, but on the off chance that someone will read this, here's my opinion anyway. I liked this movie. A lot. Lost in Translation seems to run the gamut of reactions to it though. Some people love it, some people hate it, others remain bored and indifferent. Here's a brief rundown of why I love it
1. Coppola's camera. The cinematography is beautiful, the camera tech reflects and amplifies the story, and Tokyo is allowed to shine.
2. The writing. Dialogue is well-crafted and the actions are significant. Also, though some say it's a boring movie, I liked the pacing.
3. Coppola's character direction. The nuances of the performances and what's said and what's not said, these things come together to create vivid character studies. And of course, to go with this...
4. The actors. Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and Giovanni Ribisi are all very good and convincing. The interactions between these characters almost become separate entities in themselves.
5. All that pretentious conceptual stuff. Hey, I don't think it's a pretentious film, but others seem to think so. I actually thought this movie hit the mark it was aiming for, in tone and in a consistent portrayal of themes. For me, this is about alienation and the power and weakness of words. And it's a love story. Actually, speaking of that, my last and most specific point...
6. The romance avoids cliches. Sure, a lesser director with less imagination might've pandered to the audience and these two leads would eventually end up in the sack in a Lolita-esque conclusion, but I think it's more believable the way it all actually works out, and there's more emotional impact in the end in my opinion. I applaud Coppola's choice to keep this affair subdued. Even though Bob and Charlotte's relationship seems to be sexual at some deep level, it's not about sex. It's about how these characters find each other and relate to each other so fantastically, in words but more importantly in ways words can't convey. that's it for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok
Review: This movie had me lost too. I think the acting was amazing and the camera work too but the plot was pretty blunt.
Rating:
Summary: Another Tokyo Story
Review: When I was a teenager I remember sitting with my father late into the night and watching Yazujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story". It's a film about two old parents who visit their children in Tokyo and find their kids are too busy for them. It's a very slow moving film. To the uninitiated, nothing seems to happen. But everything happens. It contains a world of hopes and dreams. I would not go so far as to say Sofia Coppola is an Ozu, but she exhibits that same quality of being able to look at the stillnesses of modern life. As with "Tokyo Story" and many other Ozu films, some will feel nothing happens. One doesn't expect brash Westerners to understand this feeling of stillness, but Sofia Coppola shows how it is part of them too. Like "Tokyo Story" this is about people who visit a city that they do not fit into. Unlike the earlier film, here they find one another, and offer a little support. It's a touching and poignant film. I'd also like to add a comment on the DVD. I didn't much like the previews, even if you could fast forward through them. I do wish there had been a director's commentary (or an actors' commentary). For once the "making of" is a genuine production diary and not just a promotional device. I loved it, particularly Bill Murray's Japanese lessons "Who do you think you're talking to!". I also enjoyed the offtakes. I do wish the interview with Murray and Coppola had been filmed with them sitting down. It would have been more comfortable. But it's good to see the evident affection they have for one another. For now, Sofia Coppola is a breath of fresh air in the film industry. I hope she can keep it up. I want to see more films like this, although not - I should add - just a reworking of this.
Rating:
Summary: Bill Murray's favourite role
Review: And so it should be. It's perhaps the best film he has ever been in, even though he was also very good in "Rushmore", "Groundhog Day" and "Mad Dog and Glory". I can't figure out how those who claim to be Murray fans completely disregard the man's own assessment of the movie. Murray is a veteran. Johannsen is a newcomer. And yet she is completely his equal on the screen. In her lostness, I'm reminded a little of Monica Vitti in her early years. She can portray a lot with just the smallest expression. Sometimes humans wear faces like masks, and it takes those with some EQ to see beyond the mask. I am very impressed with Sofia Coppola. I appreciate a film-maker who doesn't feel I need to have glaring signs posted on every scene and lets me figure a few things out for myself. Obviously, judging by one star reviews here, not everyone can. To those who say the film had nothing to offer, all I can say is the film had nothing for you. Fortunately it had a lot for others. I expect there'll be films that you like and they hate too.
Rating:
Summary: A mirror for people...
Review: Reading all these harsh reviews, I found that this film is a mirror for people and their ignorance, or intelligence. a) How is this a movie without a plot?? Thats just INSANE! Two people are separated from normal life. Two people are cloistered and alone, even in their relationships with spouses. The two people slowly meet, again and again. Two people begin to share their lonely lives together. Two people grow fond. two people love, but don't take advantage. Two people seperate, having shared humor, love, regret, lonliness, Tokyo without having fully communicating their love. They meet one last time and open up to each other. Thats not a PLOT?? b) This film seems to give everyone some dumb view point to bash someone in their lives, basically displaying they, the reviewers, are petty, gross, evil people at heart. How is this a movie that gives rise to the ability to bash artsy people, Americans, Japanese, President Bush or anyone? Are you people insane?? The people who like this movie LIKED it, it wasn't a LIFESTYLE choice. It was something that appealed. As for the German guy bashing Americans, thats just rude and dumb. I come from German parents and I understand how sick some German thinking is, but good lord, keep it to your own ignorant self. This is a film that could be about anyone anywhere. c) Rascist? How is this film rascist? RACIAL maybe....but more culturally skewed and playful then RASCIST. Are the Japanese even a race? Whats is this about? They had fun with cultural differences. I didn't see 'wing wong, slanty eyes!' jokes, or even worse 'Me Japranese! Me brohm Peraw Hawboaawwww'....come on tendloins, get a life. d) Not funny? Sure, this film isn't what you call a pure American cinema COMEDY, but there is so much light humor going on with the characters and situations that it does have a lot of humor within this well rounded film. It is a drama, romance, comedy film, but its just a really good film. People must go to this film expecting 'HEY! WATCH ME PULL A GOPHER OUTTA MY HOLE!', Bill Murray slamming his genitals in doors, Asian sex jokes, people pratfalling on asian pears, wild eyed goofy takes at the camera, silly outfits, and the obligatory nude scene with the 16 year old being discovered by his parents and hiding his manhood in a pie. This just isn't that. How can you even expect that seeing any of the previews?? People are so ignorant. Look at the poster, look at the cover, look at the previews! Where is this a 'genitals in pie' story?? e) 'Emperor's New Clothes'?? The only person standing out here is the reviewer, showing off as a brazen dunce. While, I expect, people wanted missiles whizzing around, car chases with funny faces and one liners right out of Nickelodeon cartoons, maybe some evil boss Murray and Johannsen must fight to prove their love, this just ISN'T that. Some of my favorite movies of all time are 'Casablanca', 'Evil Dead 2', 'M' and 'Death Wish 3'...I can enjoy anything well done in any genre by anyone and I understand most people can't. But to give this film 1 star??? What is wrong with you. It is beautifully filmed, has some really excellent sequences, makes sense, has a plot, combines a lot of dramatic and humorous elements in writing. People don't even rate some of the all time HORRIBLE movies that were filmed on 16 mm with total lack of story at 1 star..... What this film really shows is how ridiculous 95 percent of the reviewers are. Naturally, I am not one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable, that's how you are.
Review: Why aren't there more movies like this? "Lost in Translation" is a rare movie. Absolutely terrific. Some of us have lived this. Others will never know what it's about.
|
