MrN

baracine, its your prerogative if you chose not to see LIT, but please spare us your asinine comments. All you're doing is being a poseur - "I'm so smart I don't have to see the film to 'get' it" which clearly you don't.

baracine

Or, more accurately, I don't want to get it.

And I am answering the thread's question which is: Why do so many people hate this film? My contribution explains the reasons why it is hated even by people who haven't seen it.

It is already very clear why it is hated by people who have seen it.

slop101

btw -
(i didn't hate it, nor is it a bad movie - i just don't see why it's so over-praised)

Pants

Then buy a ticket for something else and go and se LIT instead. What are you the pope? Is that too morally bankrupt for you? You act like there's no way to see a movie without paying for it. Get a clue

baracine

BUT I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT!!!

Patman

Please leave this thread because you have nothing to contribute to it besides an ignorant viewpoint.

kefrank

you can understand why i think it's ridiculous for someone to publicly cast aspersions on a film they've decided not to see. my issue is not with your decision to refrain from "casting your vote." it is with your open lobbying against something of which you have no first-hand knowledge. besides, without seeing it, you don't even really know what kind of film your "vote" has been withheld from.

Mr. Salty

No, it isn't. The question was about why the original poster's friends hate "Lost in Translation." Most of the people who have actually seen the film do not hate it, and in fact seem to be quite affectionate towards it.

Kudos to you for having the stones to offer up such vocal opinions on a film you haven't even seen.

fnordboy

I finally got to watch this movie last night after I picked up the DVD. For me, it lived up to all the hype and was better than I anticipated. The only movie I had seen of hers prior to this was her short "Lick the Star" and I thought it was absolutely horrendous and considered her a no-talent hack. It even put me off watching The Virgin Suicides, I figured she would just destroy the book that I loved.

With the cast in LiT I couldn't resist seeing it, and I am a self proclaimed Japanophile. She blew me away. The writing was pretty good, direction was great, and the acting was brilliant. Yes there are some "over the top" performances, like the actress Kelly(?). I did think some of the jokes that referenced Japan were a bit overused and cliche, but it didn't bother me that much.

The one thing that does get me is why is this market as a comedy? Yes there are a few humorous moments, but overall this is not a "comedy" movie.

LivingINClip

It has Bill Murray in it, of course it's a "comedy". I swear, some of you people just don't get a good 'art-house comedy'.

jaeufraser

Why do some people hate this? Because they don't care or can't relate to these characters. This is a slow character study of a middle aged man, and a younger girl who form a platonic relationship. Of course many people don't even believe that platonic relationships can exist between male and female, and many others can't stand watching two people...just become friends. The movie is subdued, it isn't a roll in the isle laugh a minute movie (which may confuse bill murray viewers) nor is a grandiose story, a deep plot, none of those things.

Instead it is more of a meditation...it is a film that lulls you into the feeling that these two people have...and slowly pulls you along their journey through the week. Not to mention the films ends on an ambiguous whisper...somethign that for many people, is very telling. But for others...is Bill Murray whispering, and the audience wondering what the hell he said.

Nonetheless, those are the reasons I have come up with why people may not like this film. They are valid responses, as this is not a mainstream film that wil appeal to everyone. It is very focuses on its meaning, so it's not going to appeal to everyone.

On my side...loved the film...very funny, very moving...and just very very sweet.

J-Dubya

The price of the ticket entitles you to an informed opinion about the film, unless you prefer others to make your decisions for you.

rabbit77

Great movies, but if you disliked Lost in Translation because of the minimal dialogue, slow pacing and lack of action, then those two movies would make you put a fork in your eye.

Hiro11

Nope, not Joe six-packs. For example, one is a commercial banker for ABM/Ambro, the other is a Director-level exec at the bank I work at, another was my brother, currently a PhD candidate at MIT in aero/astro engineering. I deliberatly did not recommend the movie to other friends that prefer Michael Bay fare. That's what makes it so puzzling to me.

MGBGT

ITA!! Well-put!

I have to admit the first time I saw advertising for this film when it came out, I was puzzled that they'd pair Bill Murray with Scarlet Johansson, who was still playing teenagers the last time I saw her (I was saying "She matured fast!"), but I started to hear the film was doing well, and I happened to be watching Before Sunrise, the Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy film last week on cable. That film seems to have even less of a "plot" than LiT, and I really enjoyed the way that picture showed you this budding relationship between two people on a trip (In Austria instead of Japan here), who also had only just met (Difference here is these 2 weren't married). It really just brought you into their world, and everything and everyone else was just a backdrop.
Lost in Translation has some great quirky moments (Bill Murray is hilarious when he's shooting the commercial, and also when he's on that quirky local talk show with that Austin Powers/Pee-Wee Herman guy!) and some genuinely heart-felt passages as well. I'm not a critic so I can't really give you a wordy account like Roger Ebert, but I'm one Joe Six-Pack that wasn't disappointed. I even bought the DVD.

db27

bought it sight unseen and WOW, absolutely loved it!!!

schizopak

Same hear. Just bought it sight unseen and was absolutely blown away. I think this ties for the 2nd best movie of 2003 for me. #1 being Whale Rider and the tie for second going to LOTR: ROTK.

Daren

I have a very broad mind when it comes to films, but this film was awful.

So mind numbing, what really was the point.

As for best film of 2003, get real! But thats only my personal opinion.

This does not deserve the recognition it is getting.

LiquidSky

The point: Showing a friendship forming between two "displaced" individuals.

LiquidSky

This is a rather bold statement. Worst movie EVER made in the history of film? So, you have seen EVERY film EVER made not only American films but European and Asian as well?

conscience

Oh you were the one in front of me getting a ticket to go see Eurotrip...now I can see clearly.


----

The film was beautifully photographed, acted, and directed.

Of course that is my opinion...and yours is stated above.

Leave it at that.

Painkiller

But what if I did get it and I still thought that it was boring and went nowhere? Why does my reason for not liking this film have to be long, drawn-out and detailed in order for me to avoid being labeled stupid?

I just didn't like this movie. I thought it was boring and overhyped. I was disappointed. If my reasons aren't good enough for you consider my opinion a valid one coming from a fairly well-informed film fan, then I would like to know what reasons you would accept.

I don't mean you specifically, Maxin. I'm generalizing to all the people who would label me "unintelligent" because of my opinion.

Painkiller

If that was meant lightly, then ignore the rest of my post.

If it was meant as an insult, then I think that was rude and uncalled for. Why do you make judgements just because he didn't like a movie. I didn't like Lost in Translation, I'm curious what kind of movies you think I'd go to see.

baracine

Painkiller: What can you expect from the "loving, sensitive, intelligent" people who "really loved" this film even though it shows too typical ugly Americans abroad caught in the grips of ignorant xenophobia (which is just another variety of intolerance and belly-button worship)? Let them dream on, I say.

These are the same enlightened trendies, BTW, who gag at the thought of two words of French (that ugly, foreign language!) on the packaging of the Canadian edition of the LIT DVD (see that thread in DVD Talk).

Groucho

I know this gets asked of you several times a day, but what the hell are you talking about? Please use examples from the film to show this "xenophobia" you are talking about. It's not present at all.

Or have you still not seen this movie that you keep ranting about?