Sublime

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2003)

Rare is the film that manages to evoke with subtlety and economy, complex emotions. Too often scripts rely on superfluos explication of the underlying themes and emotional underpinnings rather than allowing performance and audience perception to convey genuine truth. this movie succeeds at all of the above. It wisely circumvents the idiot factor as it were, and does not play down to its audience but instead takes the uncommon position of assuming that the average American viewr is in fact thoughtful, intelligent and perhaps a bit introspective. A gmable I myslef would be wary of given the myriad collection of crap that constitutes modern American cinema. That this film is finding its audience is quite encouraging. Given its low budget it seems likely a tidy profit will be turned and in so doing this film might help to open the door to others of its kind and thereby make some small headway for art rather than entertainment and give us an alternative to the prefabricated nonsense Hollywood seems to produce in industrial quantities. Lost In Translation is certainly the best film I have seen this year and I admire it its restraint particularly in avoiding the fascile exits most studios expect and enjoy.