A lovely story, wonderful actor and a genius directing: A Classic!

Rating: 10/10 (12 March 2004)

Did I like "Lost in Translation"? I absolutely love it! Sofia Coppola reveals herself as a superbly talented writer, an intelligent and skillful director, and a real connoisseur of human nature. She depicts every adult's concerns, hopes and fears in an admirable way, that I would not have expected from someone that young. And the story is full of unforeseeable twists, challenges to stereotypes. You go from some very clever and funny lines, to others that dig deep inside the heart. Though Ms Coppola is not really "new" in this business, her career really promises to delight us much further. I am sure that we'll see her creativity and passion evolve into new stories I can hardly wait to see. Bill Murray's performance as Bob Harris was incredible. He amazingly conveys all his feelings (loneliness, regret, urge for someone beyond one's reach, remorse, ephemeral joy, sense of having wasted some of own life) to spectators, and far before the movie has ended everybody in the theater loves the guy. He truly deserved the Oscar (and not because Mr Penn didn't!). Scarlett Johansson is also outstanding in giving life to Charlotte, because that's what she did: she made Charlotte alive, a real person. It would have been really easy to leave the female role in the background with such an amazing male performer besides her, but Ms Johansson admirably overcame the challenge. In summary, this is a surprising, beautiful and touching movie, an authentic classic, and I recommend it with two thumbs up!