Lost in Translation Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)September 13th, 2003
"Lost In Translation"
Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a formerly famous movie star who is now relegated to endorsing the Japanese whiskey, Suntori. He is in Japan to make TV commercials and photo shoots for the product and he is suffering from a severe, jet lag-induced case of insomnia. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is a young woman tagging along with her photographer husband on assignment in Tokyo. Both Bob and Charlotte spend their sleepless evenings in the hotel's bar and they eventually cross paths, forming a gentle and kind friendship in "Lost in Translation."
Sofia Coppola made a critically acclaimed debut with her teen angst film "Virgin Suicides." For her sophomore effort, which she also wrote, she takes us to Japan and focuses on the two main characters, Bob and Charlotte. Bob, a cynical actor who is on the climb down the mountain of fame, is in the country earning $2 million for the commercial venture but should be, in his own mind, performing in a play somewhere. Instead, he spends all of the time in the hotel, not sleeping and drinking too much. Charlotte thought it would be a good idea to come along with her husband John (Giovanni Rabisi) on his photo assignment but he leaves her, most of the time, alone. Neither the actor nor the left-alone wife is sleeping and both spend their late eves in the bar. Of course, they meet, two lonely ships in the night, and they begin to spend their many waking hours in each other's company. A warm, often funny friendship blooms.
I was not a fan of "Virgin Suicides" but, with Bill Murray as the lead, I anticipated "Lost in Translation," at least to see the wonderfully droll comic actor perform - I always believed that his terrific performance in "Rushmore" was one of that year's most overlooked. Bob Harris is almost a blank cipher as we see him arrive after a long, sleepless flight from the States. An international celebrity, he is greeted by a phalanx of representatives from his sponsor and he is ushered to his room where he, in vain, tries to get some shuteye. Bob shuns the foreign culture before him and moves like an automaton from commercial set to photo shoot and onto a TV show with "the Johnny Carson of Japan." His only concessions to taking in the foreign culture are to watch Japanese television to shoot a solo round of golf, at dawn, with Mt. Suribachi as the backdrop. Murray's deadpan, bland acceptance of everything is perfectly suited to the character of Bob Harris.
Charlotte awakens a spark of life in Bob as they use their mutual insomnia as a bond and she gets the grumpy actor to enjoy the foreign culture. Each is experiencing marital problems as Bob carries on his long-distance marriage with his increasingly uncaring wife who tells him, at one point, that his kids are getting used to his being away. Charlotte, on the other hand, feels abandoned by her workaholic photographer husband who leaves her alone for days at a time. These common bonds of loneliness and insomnia draw Bob and Charlotte together and her youthful vigor and wonder wear down his entrenched cynicism. The chemistry between these unlikely friends makes you want to see their relationship to continue when, in the end, they finally part.
Sofia Coppola does a solid job with her minimalist cast and exotic backdrop of Japan. The sweet and chaste romance between the middle-aged actor and the photographer's young wife has a natural feel and does not strain credibility. That these two very different people would draw together, as lonely strangers in a strange land, is believable. Murray, especially, makes this plausible and Johansson does her share to convince us, too.
The inherent satire of these two fish out of water could have been explored more deftly in an experienced directors hands but Coppola does well enough immersing us into the Japanese culture. Although there is much Japanese spoken - in one scene, during the commercial shoot, the director rambles on in his native language on how he wants Bob to react to the camera with the translator boiling the lengthy instruction down to "be more intense" to the incredulous and tired Harris - there are no subtitles. You, the viewer, are as confused as to what is going on as the exhausted movie star.
"Lost in Translation" is a slighter film than I expected but Bill Murray keeps it entertaining and does a fine job of emoting the exhaustion and frustration of being so far from home and helpless in what seems to be a failing marriage. Scarlett Johansson plays well off of the veteran comedy star and the resulting friendship does not feel false. I give it a B.
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