Lost in Translation (2003): More than two decades after its release, Sofia Coppola’s film plays (even more so) like a moment suspended from reality. It already had that detached feeling in 2003, as its protagonists meandered through a foreign culture, just as they meandered through their lives. But now, in the age of always-on, always-connected, there is just so much nostalgia and melancholy swirling around that it almost detracts from the events unfolding on screen. The gist of the story, for those who somehow haven’t seen the movie yet, is that Bob Harris (Bill Murray) finds himself in Japan, while shooting an ad and reeling from his shortcomings as a father and husband. At the same time, in the same place, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is accompanying her photographer husband, who has little time for her. This leaves her to the usual musings of a 20-year-old, in line with “what am I doing with my life”. Bob and Charlotte connect in their solitude and simply have a good time together, without aggressively pushing a will-they, won’t-they agenda. Clearly, as a member of the blue-men-group, I loved LiT when I first saw and I still find it strongly appealing. What does strike me though is how not-particularly-feminist the movie is, despite being written and directed by Coppola, often praised as a bit of a road opener herself. We perceive the story mostly through Bob’s perspective, with Charlotte more of a passenger. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with that, because some assymetry allows for us to perceive characters more wholly, but it was just something that surprised me somewhat. Still, LiT, with its pitch-perfect score and soundtrack, remains a testament to one of the greatest non-romances that never was. 9
The Sheep Detectives (2026): It’s rare that I care much about very tame, good-natured, PG animal-themed movies. I wasn’t taken by Remarkably Bright Creatures (to-be-reviewed), but in TSD, I felt the proposition was a more relaxed and amused story about a flock of sheep and a murder-mystery. Hugh Jackman plays a dashing shepherd, living on the outskirts of a small town, but after his untimely demise, it comes down to his sheep to unearth the true nature of the crime. Or, rather, to push the bumbling humans into the right direction. With a star-laden cast, that includes Nicholas Galitzine and Nicholas Braun, Emma Thompson, Bryan Cranston, Patrick Stewart, Molly Gordon and others, I thought the story came together nicely, with good moments of humour and a serviceable mystery. And those sheep eyes are portals to another dimension. 7
Serendipity (2001): I vaguely recall being not very impressed by how ridiculous Serendipity felt when I first saw it. On rewatching it, I saw it rather differently: not as something to be taken seriously, but as two people desperately second-guessing their chosen partners. Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) shared a moment almost ten years prior, let fate decide if there was anything there, then apparently thought about the missed opportunity until they literally stepped foot on the altar. They both go above and beyond to check if they’re making a mistake, in moves of highly questionable ethics, that are neatly unfolded by the movie’s conclusion. I think that’s where the movie’s biggest weakness lies, not being willing at all to get dirty, either by being more critical of its leads, or by looking at the true value of a fleeting romantic moment and the wishes and desires one might attach to it. Still, not not-entertaining, in its own low stakes way. And what stood out was Eugene Levy’s role as a salesperson making life difficult for Jonathan, in a character that I must assume inspired Rowan Atkinson’s in Love Actually (2003). 6
Over Your Dead Body (2026): A mis-clicking, but also not not-entertaining American adaptation of the Norwegian The Trip (2021), Over Your Dead Body features a married couple, Lisa and Dan (Samara Weaving, Jason Segel) who are…going through a rough patch. In order to sort things out, they travel to a mountain cabin, where their plans are compromised when escape convicts turn out to have taken shelter there. It’s all a nicely cast flick, as Timothy Oliphant, Juliette Lewis and Keith Jardine make for a bonkers bunch of villains. The problem is the energy between the leads isn’t great, while the movie generously embraces very familiar plot points. There’s just not enough there to help us root for our “heroes”, either in order to survive their criminal pursuers, or to reconnect in their marriage. Sure, it all ends perfectly as expected, but there’s a sense that it isn’t very deserved. 6
Deep Water (2026): Imagine a Chinese funded movie, a crossover between an airplane disaster and a shark thriller, starring two former A-listers phoning it in (Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley) alongside carefully targeted subplots with Chinese characters and a lot of B-grade fluff to stretch the runtime. Good. Now imagine forgetting about characters that you’ve followed throughout the movie and just winging it into a heartfelt finale where a Chinese fishing boat dramatically drops their fish load to save the surviving passengers. Also imagine that the whole drama is caused by the most arrogant American you can conceive and some questionable, but tolerable shark CGI. Good, you are done imagining. Now you can see there’s schlock value here, but there’s also some painful generic stuff going on. I actually enjoyed the first part of the flick, until we got to the shark part of it, where it just became too much for my poor old brain to dismiss as funky quirks. 5
tributary stu 
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