Lost In Translation is a very well-crafted film. Lance Acord's cinematography is nothing short of masterful. The acting from the leads is nuanced, characters memorable. <br /><br />The film's casual racism, however, is deeply regrettable. Almost every scene revels in the throwaway mockery of the Japanese: accents, language, culture, stature: all are subject to a torrent of snide belittling by the film- makers. What's more shocking is that more attention hasn't been called to this. Put another way: if this film was set in Africa and contained similarly juvenile mockery of the populace, there'd doubtless be uproar.<br /><br />All in all, a well-made film severely let down by an unforgivable streak of crass racism.