Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation; drama / tragicomedy, USA / Japan, 2003; D: Sofia Coppola, S: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Akiko Takeshita, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi
American actor Bob Harris arrives with a limousine to Tokyo. He is scheduled to film a TV spot for a drink, but is annoyed by the Japanese director who cannot speak English. Since he cannot sleep due to jet-lag, he often plays golf, swims in the pool and drinks in the bar. He meets another American in the hotel, the young Charlotte, who becomes his friend. Even though the are both married, they feel like soul mates. They travel around Tokyo, visiting bars and casinos. When Bob has to depart, he kisses her and whispers something to her, before leaving in the limousine.

The second film by Sofia Coppola, "Lost in Translation" was a phenomenally critically acclaimed achievement, with many naming it the best film of the year. Sofia again shows her sense for sensitivity, yet it was not developed more than her debut "The Virgin Suicides" since this film also suffers from lack of focus and empty walk. "Lost in Translation" is a film of the moment—it shows a touching premise that people are strangers, alien to each other in the world, but that someone can find another person who understands them, and that they can connect, even if it just a random, fleeting encounter—yet alas, it is much more interesting writing and analyzing that premise than it is to watch it on the screen. The leading role is played by the cult comedian Bill Murray who is in excellent shape, playing his character in a sustained manner—but the big flaw is that his interaction with Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) lacks chemistry. It never goes beyond mildly charming. 

The only two truly great sequences where Bob and Charlotte connect is when they cannot sleep at night in the hotel, so they watch "La Dolce Vita" on TV in bed, and he later talks what awaits her in the future in life; and the heartbreaking goodbye at the end. "Lost in Translation" has echoes of "Brief Encounter" and "In the Mood for Love", relaying only on aesthetic cinematography to carry it, yet as a whole the film has too much banal humor that does not seem natural to the plot (the way the Japanese director talks for minutes in Japanese to Bob who does not understand a word; some pronunciation of an accent like "Lodja Moore"), and too little really enchanting romance. Mikhalkov's "Dark Eyes" showed a much more stimulative contribution to the same topic. The ending, with the melancholic song "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus & Mary Chain, is one of the most beautiful and emotional endings of the decade, and it's a pity the whole film up to it could not have been as strong as that. It is sophisticated, yet somehow simply lukewarm, too episodic-disconnected and bland. The opulent Tokyo, where the two protagonists get lost, only partially lived up to the expectations. 

Grade:++