Lost in Translation (Big Thumbs Up)
 

Just saw a very advanced screening of Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola. Absolutely LOVED it! Bill Murray is fantastic. Scarlett Johansson is wonderful!

Official Site: http://www.lost-in-translation.com/

Check out the trailer:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/featu...anslation.html

We'll have a review up w/ some expanded coverage closer to when the movie hits theaters. But I have to say if you're a fan of indie movies / like a good character piece. Put Lost in Translation on your list of movies to check out.

One of my top 10 movies so far in 2003!

(My List so far)
Lost in Translation
Dirty Pretty Things
28 Days Later
American Splender
X-Men 2
Matrix Reloaded
Irreversible


I haven't yet seen Whale Rider or Seabiscuit so don't know if either will find a way on to my top 10 list so far of 2003 :)

Cool, I really liked the sound of this one from what little I've heard -- quite liked Sofia's "Virgin Suicides," and well, Bill Murray is a god, so this should be great!

Scarlett Johansson... :drool:

[PixyJunket] Well reloaded is on your top 10 list so I think i'll skip this one.[PixyJunket] (unfortunatley i feel the same way and I am just using another known matrix reloaded hater as a sheild. Sorry pixy)

I don't expect Reloaded to be on my top 10 list by year's end, but given all the crap I've seen so far this year it's still better than a lot of the bad movies I've seen.

if it has Murray, i'm there. :D and Scarlet Johannson to boot!

I hated the Virgin Suicides, so I'll be skipping this one.

I really liked Virgin Suicides but I'm thinking this one is going for a different tone. I'll still check it out.

I saw Lost In Translation last monday at a preview and it is very good. Easily the best film I've seen this year.

People on this board have a way of setting their expectations too high. So I don't want to be responsible for someone's expectations skyrocketing so high that if the film doesn't cure cancer or heal the blind then it's a disapointment. That said this film is incredibly good. I loved the Virgin Suicides but this is far better than that.

The film is an excellent blend of old and new. It's setting is modern day Tokyo and and it's mood and style is as thuroughly modern as Wong Kar Wei, yet the film has some of the feeling of classic films like Brief Encounter or Trouble in Paradise. With its foriegners in Asia exhilirated with exoticism and disoriented with orientalism Lost in Translation reminds me most of Love is a Many Spendored Thing.

But did I mention the film is HILLARIOUS. This is Bill Murray's funniest role since Kingpin. I loved him in Rushmore, but he gets even more laughs here. His portrait of an actor much like himself, traped both in a mid-life crisis and in Tokyo is funny AND moving. I've never been more moved by such a funny character. Certainly I've been moved more by other characters in other films, but never by a character that had so many laughs.

In many ways the film is a musical, with lounge music setting the mood for almost every scene and characters expressing their feelings through karaoke. All in one brilliant moment during one of these karaoke sesions Bill Murray made me laugh out loud, think down deep, and broke my heart. Then 30 seconds latter he did it again! It's a triumph of a performance and if I could give him an award I would.

Grade: ****
Recomendation: Highly Recomended
Rewatchability: High (I can't wait untill Sept. 19)

Saw the trailer for this before the Magdalene sisters, and must say it looks wonderful, I love the whole mood of the setting.

it's up there now at apple.com

gkleinman?

"Founder"?

Sounds like a Production company rep trying to get some free marketing to me! ;)

I'm glad Sofia Coppola is getting good press after all the trashing she got for Godfather Part III.

Unfortunately it looks like this movie isn't playing at my local theater (12 screens and they couldn't fit this in anywhere?). Is there a way to find out which theaters will be displaying this movie?

I think it's only in one theatre in Northern Cal, which luckily for me is 3 blocks from the office. The Metreon

I just saw the 11:50am showing and I loved it, I really liked the cinematography, makes me want to up and head to Tokyo right now.

It was pretty full for an early shwoing and also was showing in one of the larger theatres in the Metreon. This is almost like Rushmore part 2, or at least Bill Murray's protrayal of Bob Harris is.

I can't wait to see this film. I love Bill Murray and I enjoyed Sofia's Virgin Suicides. I'm glad to hear that a few of you were impressed w/ it.

Geoff - why isn't Open Range on your top ten list? Do you not like westerns or something?

Caught an advance screening of this earlier in the week..

:down:

The actors were terrific. But coppola's direction is little to be desired.

The film is pretty obvious to a fault (Um yeah...ANYONE would feel lonely & sad when in a strange country alone) If the film wanted to be a real study about characters who were lonely and who connect to others out of a need to break out of that lonliness, it would have been 50 times more interesting if it weren't in that circumstance. I think the more you are connected you are to other people, or at least have the opportunity to be, but find yourself lonely and sad anyway, is something pretty important to say and real and would have been a great opportunity to explore here.

We know these two characters would never relate to each other outside this circumstance, so to me coppola's route seemed like the obvious one and the easy way to develop her story.

The comedy was there, but only because bill murray is bill murray. He's hilarious. Bill murray deserves most of the credit if you feel this film works for you. It relies heavily on him, and his mannerisms and off the cuff takes make the thing watchable. I love him-- But in better material.

Her stabs at trying to be ambgious really bother me. Like the virgin suicides they do not serve the story she is trying to tell at all. It just comes off as "cool" or the "hip" thing to do in the end.

For a real coppola-spawn film, I'd check out her brother's CQ.
Had much more to say and in a very clever and even sometimes entertaining way to tell it.

Grade: C+ (mostly because murray & scarlett are the real thing)

It's playing in 4 theaters here in L.A. None of which are near me.

I really hope Lost in Translation expands as it's not playing anywhere near me.

Hey Sunday Morning, I differ in opinion with you. I think Lost In Translation was a beautifully subtile and honest story. Sure the leads were great, and it is the situation in which the characters were placed which led them to act the way they did. It's human nature. I give it a big -thumbsup- and hope Sofia Copola, Murray and Scarlett Johansson all get Oscar nods.

Here's a question for anyone who has seen it (spoilers):



Jeremy

I enjoyed the movie. Early into Lost in Translation, before Bob and Charlotte meet I found it similar to Tsai Ming-Liang (more specifically What Time is it There?), just relatively faster-paced and with music. However, where Tsai's characters remained separated and he explores their relationship through the film itself, Coppola lets the actors take over once they meet. And her movie leaves that Taiwanese new wave feel behind. I like the Trouble in Paradise comparison because both films feature amazingly smart characters that play off each other beautifully.

And I echo Sunday Morning's sentiments about Roman Coppola. While I think The Virgin Suicides is better than CQ, her brother's film debut is so playful and has such exuberance I can only look forward to what he will do next.

To Jrutz...
 

In answer to your question, read Roger Ebert's review of the movie via IMDB. He mentions it at the end of the article.

That's interesting so many people feel strongly toward CQ. I thought it was a bad attempt at updating 8 1/2. I just thought it tried too hard to be "cool" and "hip" by using all the little bits of '60s kitsch. It might work in a Beck video, but I thought it was too gimicky for a feature film. Beneath the surface, however, I just kept thinking, "Okay, this is just trying to be 8 1/2. What's the point?"

Jeremy

Re: To Jrutz...
 

Read it, thanks for that. I skipped that part when I originally read it because I didn't want anything spoiled.

Anyway, again Ebert echoes my sentiments perfectly. I just couldn't write them in such eloquent words. ;)

Jeremy

Yeah, there's a lot of 8 1/2 in it, but I felt that was just a part of a melange of European influence in CQ. And Coppola treats it with enough reverance to respect the source. I certainly don't feel he overdid it. Part of my enjoyment came from him pulling from those sources. I really liked the Godard references, mainly how Paul's girlfriend Marlene seemed like an Anna Karina double and Angela Lindvall had that Bridgette Bardot look.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm tired of directors copying American film standards (yet I still go see them). Watching CQ was a nice break from that. Plus I thought the Dragonfly sequences were great. But the parts are definitely greater than the whole.

to get back on topic

I look forward to what Sofia Coppola may accomplish in her career too. Her two films are more different than they are similar, her latest being less self-conscious and featuring stronger performances. I really liked the way Tokyo was photgraphed, reminiscient of Taipei in Edward Yang's Yi Yi.