Review of Lost in Translation (2003) by Johnslegers — 03 Jan 2016

Why is this film so praised? Our protagonists are a naive stuck-up girl right out of college and an equally stuck-up cynical actor. Neither show any real interest in Japanese culture (he's even quite disrespectful) and neither makes any really attempt to connect with the Japanese (even though they both get the chance to connect). Even though she seems to have a degree in philosophy and he seems to be somewhat of an intellectual type, their interactions remain mostly superficial. And still, their interaction with one another is pretty much everything we get to see for this entire film. I guess this film appeals to people just as pretentious and shallow as the main protagonist (which is the only reason I can think of to explain its popularity), but I personally found it hard to connect with either of them AT ALL.

Further, I wonder how much sense it makes for their relationship to have remained purely platonic. Both seem to be estranged from their respective spouses, his wife is on the other side of the ocean, her husband is on a photo shoot for several days, both act like they haven't had sex in a long time, she's a beautiful impressionable young girl, he's a famous actor, they both don't shun alcohol and at one point they become close enough to lie together on a bed while he touches her feet. Maybe it's just me, but I personally find it hard to believe they didn't end up having sex together considering the aforementioned conditions. Anyway, the shame and confusion arising from such a situation (after both realise they made a mistake cheating their respective spouse) would at least have made a far more interesting film to watch Maybe this film appeals to people who never spent more than a few days in a foreign country, but having spent about 3 months in Poland I couldn't see anything I haven't experienced myself AT A FAR GREATER INTENSITY. For me, this makes "Lost In Translation" as exciting to watch as two people sitting at a bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive. Actually the latter would probably be more interesting, because the bus doesn't take THAT long to arrive.