The best movie to ever capture loneliness and everything that comes with it.

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2005)

I used to remember sitting in the car with my dad as a kid, and just look out the window into the skyline of Bangkok, not caring what is where and how do we get to where we want to be. And I used to remember, how even inside a big, crowded, and energetic place, I still manage to feel lonely.
Lost in Translation reminded me of those moments. First of all, this movie is visually stunning. Sofia de Coppola let Lost in Translation do to Japan what Bridget Jones did to London and Runaway Jury did to New Orleans. It's just so beautiful. However, as much as we try to fall in love with Japan. It's the enemy. The Darth Vader if you will. And therefore, as the audience, we are always on guard.
Lost in Translation is not a love story. It is not a comedy (it's as funny as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). It's not even a story about life. It's just fragment of life that, at first glance, will seem almost meaningless. But it's not. This movie is probably the best depiction of loneliness I have ever seen on screen. And if you ever experienced it before, loneliness is never meaningless. It's as much a part of life as water is to your body.
The relationship between the Scarlet Johansson and Bill Murray character is not a good one, and it's not supposed to be. Here we have two characters that are facing with the same problem (loneliness). The main girl doesn't respect Japanese culture enough to be interested in it. The main guy forgot his son's birthday ( a sitcom gimmick. How can a parents forget his child's birthday. I don't think it's possible). And we want them to come together because we feel that they can heal one another. Though that thought doesn't make any sense. How can a person that can't even solve his/her problem going to help another person facing same problem? And they didn't.
What I love the most is that, knowing the basic plot, this movie still surprise me. When the two people meet, they didn't suddenly become the light that shine into each other's world. You don't see Bill Murray try to leave his wife, or Scarlet try to leave her husband. The two met at the bar. She didn't come to him because he's good looking, or that he's funny. And he didn't stare at her because she's a hot young thing. It's because they sense loneliness within one another. And so they move closer to each other, not for comfort, but to figure out how worse this damn loneliness thing can get. If the main girl can't make life interesting with her husband and friend, will she have a good time with Bill Murray? No. But she like spending time with him more; because at the end of the day, after the karaoke, he's still lonely. Like her.
It's like when you find out you get a C on the test. You are mad at your C. So you seek your classmate, looking for somebody else who also got a C. And you talk to that person. Will having sex with that person change your grade? No. (or at least I hope not) Do you still have to deal with that C tomorrow? Yes. But it's kind of nice to know that there's another person going through the same thing with you. And in a lonely place, it's good to know you are not the only one feeling lonely.
This is not an enjoyable movie, so many of you who think of movies as "entertainment" may get turn off by it (and there's nothing wrong with that). But this movie is art. As the matter of fact, it's one of the greatest depressing movie without Nazi I have ever seen. And it couldn't have been made any more perfect than it all ready is. (well, I did complain to my friend about how I wished there's an extended version out there that has extra scenes of them together to make the last scene more believable. But then I realize that if they spend more time together, the idea of loneliness may get tone down)
Also, Roger Ebert mentioned that a lot of his viewers mailed him and told him that they hated Lost in Translation after watching it on DVD. Ebert came to a conclusion that on a small screen, the intimidating power of large and busy foreign world that would have enhanced the loneliness feeling may have gotten tone down on the small screen. I knew this prior to watching it, so I tried to sit as close to my 20 inches flat screen as I could. I'm still trying to find a way to watch it again on something bigger myself.
Anyway, great movie. 10/10