This item is currently not available. If you have this item,
Join and post it to share with others.
Like a good dream, Sofia Coppola'sLost in Translation envelops you with an aura of fantastic light, moody sound, head-turning love, and a feeling of déjà vu, even though you've probably never been to this neon-fused version of Tokyo. Certainly Bob Harris has not. The 50-ish actor has signed on for big money shooting whiskey ads instead of doing something good for his career or his long-distance family. Jetlagged, helplessly lost with his Japanese-speaking director, and out of sync with the metropolis, Harris (Bill Murray, never better) befriends the married but lovelorn 25-year-old Charlotte (played with heaps of poise by 18-year-old Scarlett Johansson). Even before her photographer husband all but abandons her, she is adrift like Harris but in a total entrapment of youth. How Charlotte and Bill discover they are soul mates will be cherished for years to come. Written and directed by Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), the film is far more atmospheric than plot-driven: we whiz through Tokyo parties, karaoke bars, and odd nightlife, always ending up in the impossibly posh hotel where the two are staying. The wisps of bittersweet loneliness of Bill and Charlotte are handled smartly and romantically, but unlike modern studio films, this isn't a May-November fling film. Surely and steadily, the film ends on a much-talked-about grace note, which may burn some, yet awards film lovers who "always had Paris" with another cinematic destination of the heart.--Doug Thomas
On being alone Even though I thought Sean Penn did an excellent job in "Mysic River," it's a shame that he and Bill Murray couldn't have shared the Best Actor Oscar that year. Murray gives the best performance of his career in "Lost in Translation" as Bob Harris, a middle-aged actor who's stuck doing whiskey commercials in Tokyo. Bob is bitter about the fact that he decided to go for the easy money in Japan instead of doing something more rewarding for his career, like a play. During his stay at a Tokyo hotel, Harris befriends Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a 25-year-old girl who's just as lost as he is. Charlotte is in Tokyo with her photographer husband who has no time to spend with her. Despite their age difference, Bob and Charlotte share a connection unlike anything either of them have experienced before. "Lost in Translation" is a beautiful almost-romance about two people who are very different in some ways but soul mates in a world of their own. Sofia Coppola wrote and directed this beautiful movie, and Murray and Johansson both give exceptional performances. This is definitely a must-see film.
Lonely expats in Tokyo... I enjoyed Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" and would recommend the film to those who have lived abroad, especially in Japan.
The story involved Bill Murray's character, a washed-up actor in Tokyo to film a Suntory whiskey commercial for $2 million, and his bouts with insomnia, loneliness and questioning of his mid-life existence. He meets another lost soul, played by the up-and-coming actress Scarlett Johansen, and they have a brief, chaste, yet intimate friendship. She's stuck in the hotel where they are living while her photographer husband is out working.
Much of the action takes place in their upscale Tokyo hotel, but there are some interesting scenes in surreal bars, clubs, apartments, karaoke boxes and a hospital.
Having lived in Japan, I found that Coppola captured much of the intitial culture shock experienced by those new to the country. There is the dazzle of neon lights, indecipherable language, and over-stimulation of music, noise and hordes of people.
I found the range of characters and their English language abilities to be fairly accurate, although I think the doctor at the hospital might have had a better understanding.
If you're expecting a fast-paced film full of action and humor, this may not be the film for you. It is a subtle, nuanced, deliberate tale, with lots of lingering shots of details and on the characters looking out windows and thinking. It is definitely "directed" but I think that Coppola did an effective job. Murray's performance, against type, was also outstanding. Johansen has an engaging smile.
I haven't read any other reviews, but I imagine that if one hasn't experienced what these characters are going through, you just might not get it. Hence the warning above.Sketchy man picks up younger woman in bar, bores me I'm the only person I know who didn't like this movie, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I was bored, bored, bored. I had difficulty identifying with characters that were self-centered at best, downright creepy at worst. These people are in one of the greatest cities in the world, with tons of sites to see and real Japanese people to get to know, but instead of going out and taking advantage of a travel opportunity that few Americans have, they hang out in a hotel bar and seek out the one other white person around, even though that other person is a fairly questionable choice of company. In real life, if a not-very-attractive 50-year-old man sitting alone in a bar was staring at a 20-year old woman, she would run away. But in the weird universe of this movie, he is supposed to be not creepy, and the audience is supposed to sympathize with their little platonic (we hope) love affair. Besides watching their sketchy lives progress, very little actually happens in the film to keep your attention, besides a little comedy in the beginning that soon fizzles out into boring scene after boring scene. And Japanese friends of mine find the comedy offensive, so maybe that isn't to be enjoyed either. I felt the whole movie was trying to make some deep point about life, but I just didn't get it because I felt the lives of this weird self-centered girl and creepy man in a mid-life crisis had nothing to do with my life.
