We Loved It
Lost in Translation

Beth's Review
We finally saw Lost in Translation and Ian's apartment all at the same time. This would be because he finally had us over and showed us the movie. I'll only comment on the movie here.
It was great! Such a gentle story of acceptance. Wonderfully expressive without dialog. You get more from the actors expressions and postures than you do from the dialog. This is why it doesn't matter what Bill Murray says to Scarlett Johannson in that last scene--it was comfort, and love, and assurance, and acceptance all at once without knowing the words. It's about the idea of friendship and companionship and making things work. Maybe I'm being too sentimental about it. Maybe it's just about hating your life and dealing with it. Maybe Scarlett Johannson is going to throw herself under a bus because her husband is a thoughtless jerk, but I don't think so. I also don't think she's going to continue to feel like she doesn't belong. She is going to find her way and realize she knew it all along.
I love the title, too. It is so apt. So much of the story is about miscommunication, not just between languages but also between people who are supposed to be speaking the same language.
Yay to Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray!

Steve's Review
This is certainly a great movie and well worth watching.  I especially liked its minimalist tendencies: its long stretches without dialogue where facial expressions say more than any words could; sparsely decorated sets that evoke Japanese style.  And the part brilliantly translated Bill Murray's comic timing into poignant dramatic acting.  What was most refreshing was its non-romaticized, realistic take on love and marriage.  It was truly a shock--a welcome shock--to hear a character describing his marriage like he was a real person, not Prince Charming.  To hear a Hollywood script give everyone permission to have, and cherish, the imperfect relationships they are bound to have, and to valorize the struggle we all experience to make those relationships resemble as close as humanly possible what we all fantasize love to be.  However, I didn't think Lost in Translation was the masterpiece many people made it out to be.  Though a great movie, we will all be watching her father's The Godfather long after Lost in Translation is a movie we rediscover on aimless trips to the video store.  Perhaps Sofia Coppala's next one will earn her a place next to her father among the master film makers.


Haven't Seen it Yet
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