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A foreign film review by Chris White
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Written & Directed by Sofia Coppola
One might imagine the set of Sofia Coppola’s spare masterpiece as a solemn place…she and cinematographer Lance Acord speaking gently to each other…stars Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray flirting quietly in the wings…crew members whispering breathlessly that this might be the day father Francis comes to visit…
(In fact, if you are Aaron Sorkin, that’s precisely how you’d imagine it.)
The reality, I believe, is much better: a slim crew camped out in a high rise Tokyo hotel for a few weeks making a movie. Their aim? To capture the tiniest, most fleeting…the most indelible moments of an accidental friendship between two lost souls.
LOST IN TRANSLATION is often mistaken as a fish-out-of-water, romantic comedy. It is not. It is better. It is a patient meditation on how people cope in this new, small world we share. Indeed, it is a film about taking care of each other…about being with each other.
Johansson and Murray have never been better than this. And neither has Coppola. The film sweeps you up from first frame to last. It befriends you. It stays with you.
It is a rainy Saturday movie for people who like to wander, but don’t like to feel lost.
2003 \\ Color \\ 104 min.
Focus Features
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Japan
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