Lotus666
06-08-09, 09:50 PM
Another one of TB's rare movie reviews, from back in 2004...
Lost In Translation is an ambitious film. And not in terms of the usual massive budget, thrills or spills. No, it bets the house on two performers who take us through a rollercoaster of fidelity, disillusionment and commercialism whilst delivering an observation on the modern Japanese.
And it delivers handsomely.
Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation casts Bill Murray in the front and foremost role of Bob Harris, a weathered film actor taking the easy money for a whisky endorsement in Toyko. He lurches onto our screens suffering from waspish jet lag, which gives way to world weary cynicism and disillusionment over his current role in life. Married with children, his wife (whom we never see) behaves more as his secretary and his children are used to days on end without him.
Staying in the same hotel is Scarlett Johansson, who plays Charlotte. In her twenties, she’s in Toyko as the “wife-in-tow” with her husband of two years who’s on a photography assignment for a B grade pop band. Self-absorbed, obsessed with his work, and the type who wears sunglasses indoors, their marriage is on the rocks – even if Charlotte is the only one who realises it. No career, no sense of self-worth and no-where to go, her world is the hotel, struggling with her doubts about her future.
The first 30 minutes of the film tell their characters individual stories, with Murray getting some solid opportunities to ad-lib his way through some belly laugh funny scenes whilst filming the whisky endorsements. This is not slapstick funny, it’s very sharply observed and entirely at his expense – his 2 million dollar pay check is the only thing propping up his dignity throughout. It’s obvious that Bob could be funny, but he’s too tired and too in autopilot to bother to impress anyone.
Eventually Charlotte and Bob meet and exchange pleasantries over the following couple of days – a hotel is a small space, especially when both characters suffer from insomnia and have nothing better to do. When Charlotte’s husband disappears on short notice for a week on another assignment, she invites Bob on a night out in Toyko with some casual Japanese friends. And thus starts a friendship in which both realise what could happen, but never take that final, ultimate step. Perhaps playing a careful moral card, it is Charlotte who drives the relationship from the beginning.
Bill Murray is on his finest form, running the gauntlet of a straight film role whilst allowing his natural comic talents some leeway where the scenes permit. But make no mistake; this is not a comedy vehicle. As he gets closer to Charlotte, Bob is revealed to be profoundly alone, having lost his connection to his wife, and desperately wants to begin living life again with Charlotte. However, he can see that their connection is perhaps “of the moment” and, with a wife and children waiting at home, feels tragically unable to take this option.
Murray makes this abundantly clear – without ever doing so. His acting is effortless, so routed in minute facial expressions, so tellingly told on the large canvas of the movie screen. Scarlett Johansson delivers no less a performance, perhaps relaxing into the role due to Murray’s presence. Tellingly, the ending was partially ad-libbed by the actors themselves, perfectly capturing the relationship. After a kiss where both force themselves to stop, Bob whispers something to Charlotte which we, the audience, are not allowed to hear – before Bob must leave to go home.
Simply put, this is an engaging film and a must-see.
Final score: 10.
Lost In Translation is an ambitious film. And not in terms of the usual massive budget, thrills or spills. No, it bets the house on two performers who take us through a rollercoaster of fidelity, disillusionment and commercialism whilst delivering an observation on the modern Japanese.
And it delivers handsomely.
Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation casts Bill Murray in the front and foremost role of Bob Harris, a weathered film actor taking the easy money for a whisky endorsement in Toyko. He lurches onto our screens suffering from waspish jet lag, which gives way to world weary cynicism and disillusionment over his current role in life. Married with children, his wife (whom we never see) behaves more as his secretary and his children are used to days on end without him.
Staying in the same hotel is Scarlett Johansson, who plays Charlotte. In her twenties, she’s in Toyko as the “wife-in-tow” with her husband of two years who’s on a photography assignment for a B grade pop band. Self-absorbed, obsessed with his work, and the type who wears sunglasses indoors, their marriage is on the rocks – even if Charlotte is the only one who realises it. No career, no sense of self-worth and no-where to go, her world is the hotel, struggling with her doubts about her future.
The first 30 minutes of the film tell their characters individual stories, with Murray getting some solid opportunities to ad-lib his way through some belly laugh funny scenes whilst filming the whisky endorsements. This is not slapstick funny, it’s very sharply observed and entirely at his expense – his 2 million dollar pay check is the only thing propping up his dignity throughout. It’s obvious that Bob could be funny, but he’s too tired and too in autopilot to bother to impress anyone.
Eventually Charlotte and Bob meet and exchange pleasantries over the following couple of days – a hotel is a small space, especially when both characters suffer from insomnia and have nothing better to do. When Charlotte’s husband disappears on short notice for a week on another assignment, she invites Bob on a night out in Toyko with some casual Japanese friends. And thus starts a friendship in which both realise what could happen, but never take that final, ultimate step. Perhaps playing a careful moral card, it is Charlotte who drives the relationship from the beginning.
Bill Murray is on his finest form, running the gauntlet of a straight film role whilst allowing his natural comic talents some leeway where the scenes permit. But make no mistake; this is not a comedy vehicle. As he gets closer to Charlotte, Bob is revealed to be profoundly alone, having lost his connection to his wife, and desperately wants to begin living life again with Charlotte. However, he can see that their connection is perhaps “of the moment” and, with a wife and children waiting at home, feels tragically unable to take this option.
Murray makes this abundantly clear – without ever doing so. His acting is effortless, so routed in minute facial expressions, so tellingly told on the large canvas of the movie screen. Scarlett Johansson delivers no less a performance, perhaps relaxing into the role due to Murray’s presence. Tellingly, the ending was partially ad-libbed by the actors themselves, perfectly capturing the relationship. After a kiss where both force themselves to stop, Bob whispers something to Charlotte which we, the audience, are not allowed to hear – before Bob must leave to go home.
Simply put, this is an engaging film and a must-see.
Final score: 10.