Beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2007)

I saw this movie for the first time a few days ago. It's simply the best movie I've seen in years. It presented something that few other movies have--I saw something profoundly moving in it that's really (sorry for the cliché) beyond words.
The producer and writer, Sofia Coppola, skillfully captured something here about relationships that usually goes unspoken. It is a poignant look at a relationship between two people who find joy in each others company while they are isolated in a foreign culture. Ms. Coppola and her crew created a film that evoked a great deal of empathy from me and watching it was an intensely affective experience. These two very real characters and their warm relationship is set off against a beautiful (and beautifully filmed and scored) but foreign landscape which, at times, takes on a sterility that amplifies the isolation of the two main characters--strangers in a strange land.
An adjective that comes to mind for this film is 'reality'. It seems to leave behind Hollywood predictability and insightfully looks at a deeper, more real level of human relationships. I hope Ms. Coppola can exercise her insight again and present movie-goers with an equally affective and 'real' movie as this one.
If you've ever traveled and formed bonds along the way with people you've met, this movie is a striking window into that experience.