Spellbinding.

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2009)

This is a phenomenal movie centered around two lonely, misplaced people played by Bill Murray and Scarlet Johanson as they are both in Japan for career reasons. The drama level is high and the acting is great on all counts, with the atmosphere being mostly quiet and personal - certainly not the slick sheen of some other modern films. What I mainly like about this film is the incredibly realistic nature of it - it's just a movie about people, that's pretty much it. No pretension, no gimmicks, just a touching, funny and sometimes sad story about people and the way their lives interact and the way they think. That takes more talent than you'd think.
I especially like how the movie has a little more respect for its audience and doesn't just lapse into a traditional romantic storyline with the typical trappings of that sort of style. Lost in Translation is interesting in that it doesn't do anything you'd expect - the characters never sleep together, there are no gratuitous sex scenes (or sex scenes at all), and when they finally kiss at the end, it's more sad than triumphant or sappy. Sure, these things aren't huge, but it's the little things that really matter in movies, and Lost in Translation emphasizes this more than anything.
This movie doesn't sugar coat anything and it doesn't try to be any more cinematic than it has to be, and in that regards, it is worth a hundred miles more than any pre-processed comedy or romance movie you'll find some other big stars starring in.
Lost in Translation is a movie that is just extremely pleasant to watch. Not everyone will like it, but a great many people will, and I'd recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who likes and appreciates the art of film. Plus one for Focus; I'll be checking more of these guys' movies out.