Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" is playing in our Singapore room right now. Even though I can't see it from where I sit typing, its soundtrack alone - all haunting, meditative notes and off-key karaoke and disjointed snippets of dialogue that wound you on impact - is enough to take me right back to the wonder I felt upon first seeing it in Sydney.

I think it may be my favourite film ever.

I tend to wonder when people name recent releases as their 'favourite film of all-time'.

It makes me suspicious that they've really perhaps just had a mental block, and can't think of anything else to say.

Like when celebrities are asked which single book has most impacted their lives - one always senses that a certain note of panic and disingenuousness underlines the carefully-crafted answer.

At any rate, whether it's due to my short attention span, panic, disingenuousness, or something else altogether, I ADORE this film.