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Lost In Translation - 10/3/03 - R - 102m
Bill
Murray - Bob Harris
Scarlett Johansson - Charlotte
Giovanni Ribisi - John
Director: Sofia Coppola
Screenplay by: Sofia Coppola
Studio: Focus Features
Official
Website
JEF
This is a difficult film for me to review. I know there are good
aspects to this film, but it just didn’t pull together for me. It’s
even difficult to describe the storyline…
Storyline: Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an actor whose
career may be on the decline, as now he is in Tokyo Japan doing commercials
for whisky. While in Japan, he is having trouble sleeping and just generally
fitting into this strange environment. In the same hotel is Charlotte
(Scarlett Johansson) who is a young woman recently graduated from Yale
and is accompanying her husband on what seems to be a business trip. Her
husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) is a photographer who is taking photos
of rock-n-roll bands, and movie stars, and is never home. During his absence
Charlotte is having a difficult time dealing with his not being there
and also being in a foreign country as well. Although the age difference
is quite large, there is a kind of bond or friendship that forms between
Bob and Charlotte, as they are like “Kindred Spirits” going
through similar situations in their life at the moment.
The movie deals a lot with the cultural differences between American life
and Japanese life: everything from furniture and lighting fixtures, to
food, to the nightlife entertainment. Although this is very interesting
to me, and I love the Japanese culture, I started to find myself wishing
the film would “move on”… I get it… things are
different there, and the characters are having a hard time adjusting.
The movie was written and directed by Sofia Coppola (yes, Francis Ford
Coppola’s daughter) and I just feel like the story was a bit too
slow moving. I wanted to know more about the characters of Bob and Charlotte,
other than just their difficulties dealing with a foreign accent.
As far as the acting goes I was very impressed with Scarlett Johansson’s
work. I last saw her in “Ghost World” which I thought she
did a terrific job in also. She is a talented actress, and I look forward
to seeing her in additional films. Bill Murray… Although I think
he did a good job, I just didn’t see anything new or outstanding.
I liked him better in “Rushmore”. (Odd side note: In Rushmore
he co-stared with Jason Schwartzman who is Sophia’s cousin). I was
also disappointed to not see hardly any of Giovanni’s talent. I
like his roles and he was hardly in this film, kind of a waste of talent
if you ask me.
The thing that I enjoyed the most in this film was the cinematography
and the attention to detail in the sets. At times I was truly distracted
by the beauty of the Japanese culture and found myself thinking more about
the differences than the characters in the film. There were some really
nice shots in the film, and I would almost recommend seeing the film just
for that alone.
Bill Murray is a funny guy. But this was a very serious role for him.
Yes, there were some funny moments. But don’t go to this film thinking
it will be a comedy with Bill Murray.
Well, I know this sounds a little more negative than I really wanted it
to sound. It was certainly not a bad film and I enjoyed being taken on
a ride to Japan for about 2 hours, but I just left the theatre with a
few questions, and not really getting the whole point of the movie. Perhaps
it was just the simplicity of the film (that was a good thing) and I was
looking for more. So I’m going with a yellow light. I can’t
recommend this film to everyone, but if you’re a fan of Bill Murray’s
more serious work, and or a fan of Scarlett Johansson, you should watch
this film.
Jef
