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Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2004)

You know, I thought I saw the most original, most moving piece of film-making in years when I first saw Lost in Translation last month. I thought to myself, "What an original work of art!" The acting was superb, the script great, and, most important of all, the music sounded "right." The feeling of the movie stayed with me, making me watch it almost 10 times the first week I bought it on DVD. I thought it should've won Best Picture, and I continually believed that I would never see a movie as spell-binding and heartfelt as Lost in Translation.
Boy was I ever wrong....
Charlie Kaufman's latest mind jaunt is something of epic proportions. I saw this movie last weekend for the first time with my girlfriend and, even before the opening credits rolled, I looked over at her and I said, "This movie is gonna be amazing." What an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen a movie ask so many questions answer them ALL. I don't think I've ever seen a movie grapple with so many issues and handle them as perfect as a professional juggler. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that made me think about my own life and my own experiences as much as this movie did. I've never felt like "that" coming out of a movie before. And I say "that" because, frankly, I don't know exactly what my feeling was. It was somewhere between surreality and bliss, somewhere between puppy love and pure love, somewhere between genius and brilliant.
The plot, if you haven't heard, is this: a nondescript loner Joel Barish decides one day to skip work (for a reason he does not know) and go out to Montauk Beach on Long Island. On the way back, a young woman named Clementine decides to strike a conversation with him, and ultimately hit it off. This seems like the beginning of a budding relationship, but once the opening credits start roling, we know it was not meant to be. Joel then finds out that Clementine has had him erased from her memory. With feelings of strong spite, Joel decides to do it himself, ridding his mind of the memories of there relationship. The majority of the movie resides in Joel's head as we watch memory by memory be erased. However, midway into the procedure, Joel feels regret and wants to keep these precious memories. The rest of the movie finds Joel trying to save Clementine by shoving her into memories where she doesn't really belong, such as childhood memories. In between shots of Joel's mind, we see the pair of nerds who do the procedure in Joel's apartment, the guys who work at Lacuna Inc., the company that does the procedure. ( Bear in mind this is a very short summary )
Jim Carrey once again dons a serious role, but this time he connects. He plays Joel perfectly, from the outside quietness to inside vulnerability and insecurity. Kate Winslet once again belts out another award-worthy performance as Clementine. She is so out-going and eroticized that you have to fall in love with her. Never once throughout the whole movie do you think that these two don't belong together. Their onscreen chemistry is perfect. They seem to keep moments on intimacy even during the times when they don't get much onscreen time. The supporting cast including Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood (can you say creepy?), Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Wilkinson give stellar performances in what seem to be minor roles that turn into extremely important ones.
This movie is one of those films that blur the line between comedy and drama, but it seems to be true to both genres. Charlie Kaufman is a genius, pure and simple. Go out and watch this movie. It'll make you think about life in a brand new way, and that my friends is the mark of greatness.