by George Jobson

Oct 8, 2003

"Lost in Translation" is one of the best movies that I saw this year. Bill Murray gave an outstanding performance as an American who achieve celebrity statues in Japan. He does wine commerical and his face can be seen everywhere in Japan. But Murray has his own concerns, not with the custons in Japan, but in communicating with his family back in the states. Another American who entered the scene is played by Scarlett Johannsson in a star-making performance, played an American who is Murray's love intrest. The film is directed by Sofia Coppla, whose is already becoming a cinematic genius. She is following the footsteps of his father Francis Ford Coppla. "Lost in Translation" is a one-of-a-kind movie. A joy to behold. 

by Tom K

Oct 11, 2003

Bill Murray is awesome. Great cinematography. So far, best film of the year. 

by clayko

Oct 23, 2003

Time for someone to tell you the truth about this movie. Its success is largely due to the huge amount of spin-doctoring for Sophia Copolla. This movie is not hilarious as so many of the reviews indicate. Bill Murray's perfomance is outstanding, but it's largely a reprise of his role in Rushmore. Scarlette Johansson's performance is as annoying as her misguided character.

The funniest moments of the film come when Murray is confronted with the strangeness of the Japanese culture. We've seen that done before. The concept of a love relationship between these two is absurd. It's not father-daughter, it's more like grandfather-daughter.

The movie takes forever to go just about nowhere. Ignore the spin-doctored reviews that are only giving a nod to Sophia Copolla's nepitism, this is a very average movie and at the end of the day rather boring. 

by Dan

Feb 5, 2004

This is not an enjoyable movie. I had high hopes. But when all is said and done, this $3million success doesn't have much of anything, except for Bill Murry, and he can't save this. I do believe my time would have been better spent doing other things, like showering. 

by Scott Jentsch

Jul 29, 2004

This movie is not for the impatient audience. The performances are very good, and the underlying theme is worthy of exploration, but the pacing can be difficult to take, especially in the first half of the movie.

For example, 40 minutes into the 105 minute movie, we're still watching the main characters bored out of their skulls in their hotel rooms and around Tokyo. Maybe it's the caffeinated, drive-through, get-on-with-it society we live in, but that's much too long since we got the point about 20 minutes earlier.

As I said, though, the performances are great. Bill Murray deserved the Oscar for his turn as an actor with a going-nowhere career and a dull home life while still keeping some level of a sense of humor and sanity in the process.

Scarlett Johansson lights up the screen, both with her presence and her performance. I'll have to look up some of her other films on Netflix and give them a try, as she did an excellent job (easily equal to Murray's).

This is one of those movies that does better on DVD because you can gain a greater appreciation for it by watching some of the extras. Here is an opportunity for the principles in the movie (director, etc.) to explain what they were trying to achieve and hope that we all get from it. Perhaps with multiple viewings, a greater appreciation of the slow pacing can be had.