Definitive stealth chick movie.

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2004)

For me, most romantic films make false, insincere statements about love and relationships. In contrast, Lost in Translation (2003) is painful in its honesty and candor. It asks brave questions about love and intimacy.

Lost in Translation (2003) is a progressive example of a "Stealth Chick Movie", a term on Internet postings for a film that a guy would enjoy seeing on his own, but takes his girlfriend or wife because it'll make him look sensitive. The oldest use I found for this term was for Muriel's Wedding (1994).
There is a similar theme that seems to have a lot to do with the remarkable guy-friendliness of these two films: these aren't the typical romantic stories that provide an example of love and relationships. Instead, both explore love and relationships as concepts, asking thought-provoking questions about what love is and is not, what does and doesn't qualify as a relationship.
Lost in Translation (2003) depicts a contemporary, not-quite-improper relationship among two people for whom such a psuedorelationship seems to be what they need and want. I won't be more specific for fear of spoiling the film.
I will say that this film depicts a two people reinventing the who-what-when-where-why-how of intimacy and relationships, an underexplored topic in film, presented with brave realism and sincerity by director Sofia Coppola.