Lost in Translation

Marc Savlov

1. Lost in Translation

Both Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola deserve Academy attention for this flawless, passionate, and above all, human comedy. Takashi Fujii as the host of “Matthew’s Best Hit TV” deserves something, too, possibly a Xanax.

2. Spun

Cheaper than rehab and twice as much fun, this hellish, hilarious descent into the zippy mire of hardcore amphetamine tweakers is witty, terrifying, and immensely fun, if you like that sort of thing.

3. Spellbound

This never would have made it past the first seven seconds of a studio pitch meeting, but it’s everything studio dramas strive to be: heartfelt, funny, and devastatingly emotional.

4. Capturing the Friedmans

The most amazing, impossible-to-turn-away-from record of a familial train wreck ever recorded, and hopefully not the beginning of a new Fox TV reality trend.

5. American Splendor

Harvey Pekar is Paul Giamatti is Harvey Pekar, et cetera. Yet more proof that Cleveland’s favorite cartoonist son is more interesting than most of those superhero fellows.

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Slightly imperfect on its own, but as the trilogy capstone, and taken with Jackson’s previous two chapters, a majestic, butt-numbing masterpiece. Love those Orcs!

7. Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Two words (or is it three?): Go Go Yubari.

8. The Station Agent

“A blonde, a guido, and a dwarf walk into a bar …”: so not like that joke at all.

9. The Magdalene Sisters

So harrowing you’ll probably end up washing everything in Woolite in your sink from now on.

10. Princess Blade

Yumiko Shaku is every animé-boy’s live-action wet dream in Shinsuke Sato’s sexy, violent, minimalist masterstroke.

This article appears in 2003.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.

A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...