Review of Lost in Translation (2003) by Antonio T — 25 Jul 2017

Lost in Translation is directed and written by Sofia Coppola, and it stats Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in a dramedy about a movie star that went to Tokyo to do a commercial for a type of whisky, but knows nothing of the Japanese language and is having a bit of a midlife crisis, while he come across a wife that came to Tokyo because of her husband who's a photographer, and she's not sure of the marriage life that's she's having, while also having nothing else to do that's going on in her life.

I remember that I've seen this on Netflix, and actually enjoyed it, but I didn't really know why, although I remembered the whispering scene, which is pretty much the most famous scene of the film.

So after seeing this, Lost in Translation is an excellent film that really brought the best out of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Bill Murray is fantastic in it that shows his usual deadpan, which I know the writing is made for that as Sofia Coppola actually wrote this movie for him to be in, while giving off some of the drama elements that works for his character as he's just lost, and is just doing what he can for money, even if he doesn't like doing some of the stuff that gives him money.

Scarlett Johansson is also great in this, which I believe that this is the movie that made her well-known as she wasn't in films before this that a lot of people went to go see, and this movie shows the showcase of her talents as an actress by making it a subtle performance, especially for the chemistry between the main characters as you're not quite sure if they are going to be together in the end or not.

The movie does a good job of showing some of the lifestyles that Japan citizens do in their everyday lives, and it doesn't portray them in a negative way. It's got some gorgeous shots of Japan, and the conversations between the main characters felt really genuine that you're in there, listening in to their conversations.

It also does a great job of showing the challenges that an American person has to go through when they know nothing about the foreign language, and I actually know a lot about the characters here than I did with Sofia's previous film The Virgin Suicides, so it's nice to see improvements.

When there are moments that you wonder if they are going in that direction, and it actually mostly doesn't give you a clear answer, which more or less gives in to your interpretation in it, which I thought was really clever as it's from the perspective of Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray's characters and you know as much as they do.

Lost in Translation is probably one of my favorites that created human people out of these characters, and I love that in a film with a great script, direction, and acting that comes in as tight as it can be in a good way.