lost in opinion.

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2003)

last night i watched lost in translation, a film by sofia coppola. this is coppola's third effort and will probably put her over as a legitimate film maker. i very much enjoyed the film, but i'm left a tad hesitant in giving it a full recommendation.
as eye-candy, this movie's great - lots of great shots, quality acting, perfect match of sound and visuals, and one pretty hot chick played by scarlett johansson to top it all off. bill murray will probably get an oscar nomination, and if lucky, so will coppola, but here's the downside - lost in translation is borderline offensive.
the movie is based on a dried up acting vet who goes to japan to endorse some japanese liquor of some sort. there, he meets a newlywed married to a neglective photographer. nevermind that bob, the actor, is old enough to be this girl's father, the odd couple flirt with possible romance and sexual tension throughout the entire film. none of this is offensive to me, but that's probably because i'm chinese.
according to lost in translation, japanese people do pretty messed up things and are actually exactly that, messed up. the reason why this movie's so entertaining is because of its cruel, yet funny depiction of japanese lifestyle. from an embarassingly americanized night life district, to a f-ed up talk show host leading bad japanese television, the movie comes close to scaring me the hell away from ever visiting japan. not to say that japan's not really like that, but it all can't be like that, can it?

definitely as a piece of 'art', if you can call it that, it's amazing. but if one day you find yourself sitting in a theatre watching lost in translation as i was yesterday, and six or seven japs walk out before the movie ends, something might be wrong.
watch it nonetheless as it's worth the time. the acting merit and pure visuals make the movie entirely. i give it, eight droopys out of ten.