It’s back. After battling for more than a decade to make even a halfway decent film, Woody Allen has stumbled across his talent again. And for the New Yorker who has made his career, and slowly undone it over the past ten years, with New York films about New York people, it was lurking in the most unlikely of places – London.
‘Lost in Translation’ is one of those very rare American dramas where subtlety and nuance don’t take a back seat to overblown melodrama and cloying sentimentality. Tranquil and delicate, Sofia Coppola’s film offers an almost dream-like look at the city of Tokyo and its effect on two Americans.
Bob Harris is a 40-something movie star lured to the city for a few days by a multi-million dollar whisky endorsement contract. He’s somewhat embarrassed at his reason for being in Tokyo but, apart from the financial benefits, his trip is the latest episode in his midlife crisis.
Nils van der Linden