spellbinding

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2003)

This film, scripted and directed by Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides) is certainly the best you'll see this year.
It is completely genuine, and brilliantly realised. You get the feeling that the tale of this movie has not been contrived for entertainment purposes (although it is lively, funny, and moving) - but that we are being given a rare opportunity - a window into the lives of two fascinating people (both treated with equal understanding and compassion by Coppola - a rare thing in movies).
At times you forget that you're watching a movie at all, it draws you in so well. It has the kind of brilliant direction that Orson Welles most liked in other directors - the kind that you don't notice, but that creates the experience and tells the story really well.
Every moment of this subtle, moving story of two americans lost in Tokyo, alienated from everything else around them, is quite simply enchanting.