Saturday, January 10, 2009

DVD: Lost in Translation


I saw this in the theater and loved it. We bought it and put it away, and I can't even remember the last time we watched it--until now. Paul stuck it in the DVD player the other night and we've since watched it twice, delighting in almost every detail.

I don't know if it any of it is ad-libbed (with Bill Murray, I expect so)...but it is so damn funny and spot on about being a stranger in a foreign country...especially when that country is Japan. It's also very believable on the disconnects within relationships...we're not just talking gaps in communication between people of different nationalities here....enough said. This is a movie more to experience than analyze.

Sofia Coppola (yes, she's his daughter) has an exquisite eye, incredible restraint, and a great sense of humor....Rumor is she hounded Murray for eons until he agreed to be in this movie. It was worth the effort. And I'm not a huge Scarlett Johanssen fan, but she's got mercifully few lines here, and she's beautiful to watch.

Best moments are all Murray's, though. Fabulous movie that translates well to DVD.

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