A subdued, reticent masterpiece from Coppola -- I mean Sofia Coppola.

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2004)

There are good films, there are decent films, there are terrible films, and then there are memorable films. Lost In Translation is in the memorable category. It might not be the most technically apt, the most cohesively written, the best edited, but when it's over it lingers with you.

A story of two disillusioned lives who meet in Tokyo. Surrounded by a new culture their alienation is a means to connect and allows them to make sense of themselves. Shot in a cinema verite, on the fly, documentary-esque style Sofia Coppola and her colleagues shoot Tokyo with eyes of admirers. And the soundtrack composed by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields is distinctly fresh and poignant.
The performances are all amazing in their own subtle way. Bill Murray is the obvious stand out walking the line between humor and melancholy with sympathetic grace. Scarlett Johannsen matches him stroke for stroke with her wistfulness. The other characters Giovanni Ribisi and Anna Faris add depth to their characters as a photographer and young starlet, respectively, despite limited screen time.
There are no resolutions in here just hopes, wants, desires. A decision between what is right and what is meaningful. As the film builds itself into a corner. It resonates even more, because it shows fleeting encounters rarely eclipse ephemeral durations. When Bill Murray whispers his last words to Scarlet Johannsen's ears. We as watchers are not allowed to hear. It's a moment where characters have become so real that their privacy is something that is assumed not earned. And like that it is wrong to assume Lost in Translation is nothing because it earns itself to be so much more.