gets it so right..

Rating: 9/10 (23 September 2003)

About 8 years ago I lived in South Korea for a short time. There were three things that Lost in Translation reminded me of so much right away. One was the very first things I saw while walking down a huge metropolis in 1995 was a giant billboard of Shannon Doherty selling perfume. Another was turning on the TV and finding a very absent and different looking McCauly Caulken selling computers.
Lost In Translation's story of a down and out actor shooting a whiskey commercial in Tokyo, could have just been about the absurdity of the situation. But the main thing it gets so right, is the sense of culture shock and the sense that the little problems in life cause you great pain living and staying in a place you don't understand. More importantly it becomes that time you pull through as one of the biggest life changing events you will ever witness. That would have to be the third thing this film reminded me of so much.
Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanson are perfectly cast, as 2 Americans stuck in a world and time they don't quite understand. Soffia Coppola's direction is superb, and is peppered with a great soundtrack setting the perfect mood. Then there are the little nuances that I could go on about forever that are done so well, the karaoke rooms, the temples, the hotel lounge, the endless concrete skylines, the overwhelming neon.. and so on..
A film that stays with you, for a long time.
Rating 9 out of 10