Simple, beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2006)

Lost in Translation is a masterpiece. Period. I was almost going to talk about it with "artsy" vocabulary and ramble about the "magnificent piece of post-modern art" by the "auteur" Sofia Coppola. But really...why does it have to be so complicated? I mean, the movie itself is so simple...and it's better that way.
Bill Murray is perfect in his role as a lonely actor doing ads for Suntori whiskey in Tokyo, who meets Scarlett Johansson, another lonely, neglected person. She is a newlywed, married to a photographer, played with an emotional absence--in a good way--by Giovanni Ribisi. In a wonderful supporting role, Anna Faris is a daffy actress who provides hearty laughs in numerous scenes.
No major action scenes take place, it's mainly just the two stars talking, and exploring Tokyo. Not much of a plot, but it's wonderfully done. Murray and Johannson are perfectly cast a two people in a foreign world who make each other's experience--and our experience--so much better.
Lost in Translation is a simple movie about simple people, in a crazy complicated place. They can't through to this foreign world, and the world can't get through to them. But between the audience and the screen, nothing is "lost in translation".