Attention to Detail

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2004)

I personally thought this movie was excellent. I can see how some who are normally used to the Hollywood schtick just picked it up from Blockbuster just to check it out after the Oscars were probably turned off. I've seen the movie mislabeled all over the place as the center plot or idea being that of Bill Murray living temporarily in Tokyo on a business trip and encountering all these cultural and language differences and difficulties. However, it's not truly about that. The setting in Tokyo and that constant emphasis is simply a driving factor for the core story of Charlotte and Bob Harris. The whole "foreign advertising/commercial making" scenes weren't just for comic relief but more importantly character building and creating the gap from America to Tokyo. This emphasized the loneliness and feeling of isolation the characters felt. The direction of the film and its detail is what made this movie brilliant. Notice how Giovanni Ribisi is almost phased out of the movie as the characters fall into that hole of loneliness. The only somewhat recurring white character is the Jazz Singer which was obviously done deliberately for reasons of foreshadowing.

The camera work is also very good. Again with the attention to detail you see one of Bob and Charlotte's first encounters to be when they are sitting at the bar. The two of them are on the extreme ends of the shot with this large gaping hole in the middle. It is very noticeable and a normal filmmaker would simply widen and open up the shot to make the audience see that this gap isn't so empty. However, it was on purpose because later on in the film when the two are now very close a shot very similar is seen and this time the two characters are so close there are large gaping holes on each side.
The fact that this movie was filmed in 30 days was unbelievable. The editing job was excellent and the movie didn't seem to be rushed at all in this sense. As if the atmosphere of Tokyo didn't give Lost in Translation enough tone the music in this movie was the garnishing detail. One of the highlights of the movie was when the My Bloody Valentine song almost chimed in.
This movie was very well done. That's all that needs to be said.