Lost In Translation HD DVD Review
April 24, 2008
Remember back in 1990, when film fans around the world were labelling young Sofia Coppola as Exhibit A for the creative disappointment of The Godfather Part III? As we all know by now, Coppola was a complete novice in the acting department when she was cast in the pivotal role of Mary Corleone following Winona Ryder’s abrupt exit from the production due to exhaustion. Her wooden, Valley Girl-esque line delivery created an outcry from both critics and the public alike (Myself? I was more irked by Eli Wallach’s performance more than anything else), which was vicious enough to make one think that the young Coppola would never have anything to do with the motion picture business again, be it in front of or behind the camera.
Apparently, time does indeed heal wounds. Nine years after the Godfather III debacle, Sofia came back to the film business, not as an actress but as a screenwriter and director with an impressive debut feature, The Virgin Suicides. An atmospheric tale of a group of teenage sisters living in 1970s American suburbia, the film was more style than substance, but made for an intriguing debut, one that showed that she had indeed inherited some of her father’s creative talents behind the camera. But it would not be until her second feature, 2003’s Lost In Translation that Coppola would show that she is a filmmaker worth taking seriously. |
