Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation
(2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola

Cast:
Bill Murray - Bob Harris
Scarlett Johansson - Charlotte

Bob and Charlotte are two different people in Tokyo. Bob was a movie star in the states, now he is doing commercials for a Japanese whiskey maker. Charlotte is a recently graduated, recently married young woman who lays around mostly while her photographer husband goes on assignment. They come from different backgrounds but they share one important thing - they are very much alone.

Another important thing they share is the same hotel. After repeated encounters they agree to make a break for it and explore Tokyo. They encounter a place very much like America yet very different. Charlotte breathes a little youth into Bob’s midlife crisis and for Charlotte Bob is just there when she needs someone - something her husband isn’t. Naturally a friendship develops between these kindred spirits and even something more.

Lost in Translation is not about non-stop action or clever comedic sequences but more about introspection as we see and feel the characters isolation. In a place like Tokyo you can be surrounded by throngs of people and yet still be very much alone. Lost in Translation teaches you that you never know who you will meet and how it might impact your life forever. Also, that finding yourself is really something that never stops whether you are a twenty something year old fresh out of college or a married man who receives packages across the seas asking what carpet color he likes the best.

Bill Murray is believable in his role and appropriately comedic when he needs to be. Scarlett Johansson proves that she is not just another pretty Hollywood girl and that she can act well. Some people may say their “relationship” is questionable since Bill is old enough to be her father. However at the end of the film we are glad that they have found each other - and shared a memorable time in their search for themselves.

4 stars