Lost in Translation (2003)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  9 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Sofia Coppola's 'Lost in Translation,' is an incredibly compelling character study about two outsiders finding a home in each other on their respective trips to Tokyo.
  
  One half of the duo is Charlotte (Scarlett Johanson) who's followed her new husband on a work trip, and she seems completely in her own head and unsure of what her purpose is or what she wants to be, spending her days in the hotel or on the city streets watching everyone else enjoy their life. Then, the other half of the duo is Bob (Bill Murray) who's a washed-up actor shooting a whisky commercial, and he carries the weight of someone who has accepted that life has no meaning, and numbs his way through the trip picking up what joys he can along the way.
  
  Very little of that is stated out loud; instead we lean it from the way they interact with others, and the way the camera watches these two brilliant actors emote and hold themselves so naturally that they fully embody the pair's respective outlooks. Together that means that when they strike up a relationship, you understand exactly why they find solace in each other - Charlotte absorbs his self-assurance and attitude to life, whilst Bob absorbs some of her thoughtfulness and insight. That can't help but make you smile, and that's emphasised by the funny and naturalistic way the script writes their exchanges; crucially (just about) transcending the Hollywood trope of a younger woman with an older man at the same time.
  
  Filmed so well by Coppola, Tokyo is also the perfect backdrop for the pair, as it emphasises their "outsider," natures with its sprawling city scapes and new customs which both irritate and amuse the pair.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There are some moments where the treatment of Japanese culture as this backdrop to their observations feels disrespectful
  
  VERDICT: Sofia Coppola's 'Lost in Translation,' is a truly magnetic character study about two outsiders striking a relationship that feels both real and hugely valuable to the pair.

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