An emotional masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2004)

Before I begin, let me say one thing: THIS MOVIE IS NOT A COMEDY. It has funny bits, but it is not a comedy. Why it was advertised that way, I have absolutely no idea. Do not approach this movie as a comedy, because you will be disappointed by its "slow pace" and "sarcastic demeanor."
As a matter of fact, I'm not really sure how to classify this movie. Drama? I guess that's the established genre it most easily fits into, but to me it refuses to fit. Lost in Translation is a story. . . no, scratch that, a documentary of two people who feel completely alienated by their family, friends, and society in general, who find in each other something that they actually understand. At least, it would be a documentary if the characters had actually lived at one time, and if this interaction between them had actually taken place. I call it a documentary because the entire movie feels so real. It doesn't sound like these are actors reading from a script, it sounds like they're real people saying what real people would say, living out actual lives. Because they are so real, their emotional pain is that much more heartrending; both are stuck in lives which, at the moment at least, they neither want nor understand nor fit into. The fact that they are in Japan has nothing to do with it; their very lives have been lost in translation into the real world. In each other, they could have found romance; instead, they find something much simpler and much more fulfilling: friendship. They actually pay attention, time, and energy to each other, something the rest of the world has been loth to do.
My friends watched this movie after hearing me rave about it and didn't care for it. They said it was too slow. Well, it is slow. Life is slow. A narrative doesn't just spring, fully formed, from a director's forhead. Emotions and friendships take time to form, especially for cautious people. I didn't think it was slow; I thought it was beautiful. With every shot of the "filler" that my friends disliked so much (such as Charlotte's walks), you could see thoughts and emotions going through the characters minds. These scenes, besides being beautifully shot in themselves, are vital to the development of characters.
Well, I've gone on this sappy schpiel long enough, and I've worked myself into a corner from which I can think of no suitable conclusion as an escape. So I'll just say again, this movie is absolutely gorgeous in every way: characters, themes, emotional content, cinematography, and pretty much everything else that makes up a good movie. 10/10