This is why I adore Lost in Translation while many don't, because I love the characters. Nothing happens in the movie. But it's pretty, and there are characters I can get into. That's what I need.

I felt like there was a great movie struggling to get out. I loved the scene where they talked in bed. I loved "That was the worst lunch ever." There were a lot of nice moments, but they were few and far between. You make an interesting point about character and story not always intertwining, but I think it's hard to learn about characters unless they're in some semblance of a story. Even if it's just a narrator telling us about them, that counts as a story. It's storytelling.

Oh, and since I was just thinking about it yesterday, another movie that I didn't see the love for: Y Tu Mamá También. (Also, I hated 21 Grams .)

(grumbling) But I see your point about LiT. Not that I disliked it.

Because it is! As Nutty notes, Godfather 1 is gorgeous pulp. Godfather 2 is as close to Shakespeare as American film gets.

Heck, yeah. Although lots, and maybe all, of my favorite movies are pulpy genre flicks with miles of brains behind them. I mean, even Shakespeare's fairly pulpy in the context of his time.

And another heck yeah on those first five Godard movies. Wonderful stuff.

I haven't seen very many foreign films but "La Cage" and stuff.(Or I should say films not in English) I'm Godard-impaired. ETA: Corwood gets to blurb my book if it ever comes out, being as pulp with miles of brains is my artistic heart's desire.

Godfather 2 is as close to Shakespeare as American film gets.

Oh HELL yeah.

This is why I adore Lost in Translation while many don't, because I love the characters. Nothing happens in the movie. But it's pretty, and there are characters I can get into. That's what I need.

I felt like there was a great movie struggling to get out. I loved the scene where they talked in bed. I loved "That was the worst lunch ever." There were a lot of nice moments, but they were few and far between. You make an interesting point about character and story not always intertwining, but I think it's hard to learn about characters unless they're in some semblance of a story.

But the characters *were* the story. It was all internal. (Which is not a popular mode of storytelling, I'm aware.)

I haven't seen any French films, but I do seem to like German films. Everything from M to Das Boot and Run Lola Run. Toss in the silent films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caliguri and Metropolis and I'm a happy camper.

(A neat Metropolis thing I saw on Antiques Roadshow FYI a few weeks ago--the appraiser was asked what would be his "Find of His Life" that he would do anything to locate, and he said it was the one-sheet for the American release of Metropolis. There are some promotional stuff from the initial release (lobby cards, mostly), but no one-sheets have ever been found. He estimated that, if it did ever show up, it would probably sell for over $1 million.)

But the characters *were* the story. It was all internal. (Which is not a popular mode of storytelling, I'm aware.)

Yeah, I guess I just can't get into it that way. Do you feel the same way about Garden State ? Or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ? Because people compared both of them to Lost in Translation, which made me all a-feared, but I really liked the former and loved the latter.

Yes. The story of LiT is entirely in the connection, and its silliness, and its importance.

It makes me think of people I've spent little time with, usually mere days, but whose faces and names I remember with crystal clarity. Friends at week-long church camps as far back as elementary school, including my first real crush. The girl I still think of as the most beautiful person, internally and externally, I've ever met, despite our total lack of compatibility and a total time spent together of maybe 15 hours over 3 years. Friends from summer programs age 12 and higher who inspired me in late-night conversations, that could exist only because of the temporary nature of our acquaintance, to express my true nature and mature into me.

I don't talk to many of these people anymore. Their importance was in the temporary nature of our meeting. And that is a story.

But not one that everybody would want to hear.

And in answer to your question: no. Eternal Sunshine is one of my other favorite movies, but it has a much more accessible story to go along with its compelling characters. Garden State, much the same.

But the characters *were* the story. It was all internal. (Which is not a popular mode of storytelling, I'm aware.)

Yeah, I guess I just can't get into it that way. Do you feel the same way about Garden State ? Or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ? Because people compared both of them to Lost in Translation, which made me all a-feared, but I really liked the former and loved the latter.

I *do* feel the same way about Garden State, which I love as much as LiT. Eternal Sunshine was purely Meh for me.