A good movie has many fundamental components. Players you care for, a plot that interests you, a story that wants you to learn more, some romance (this can be replaced with action), and comedy. Lost in Translation has all of these elements and the end result is a very yummy movie. The movie tells the story or an actor in his middle years; his career is going downhill and is on the verge of careening into a mid-life crisis. Bill Murray plays as Bob Harris, a dreary movie star sent to Japan to film a whiskey commercial. While there he meets and develops feelings for Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the wife of a traveling photographer.
This movie is written and directed and produced by Sofia Coppola, who in 1999 wrote and directed The Virgin Suicides. The film also stars Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Boiler Room (2000)) and Anna Faris (The Hot Chick (2002) and Scary Movie trilogy).

The Review: No Spoilers

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that rekindles people’s faith in Hollywood, revives a genre, and in this instance, Lost in Translation is that movie, the genre, light drama. Light drama. What is that? Well, I’m making up genres here, but I believe that there are multiple levels per genre, and Lost in Translation is not a comedy, nor is it dramatic, but it does have elements of both and blends them together well.
Lost in Translation is about Bob Harris (Bill Murray), a fading, middle-aged actor from America who is sent to Japan to do a series of commercials for Suntory Whiskey in Tokyo. Like most movies that take place in another country, we are barraged with culture clash and societal differences. In one instant when Bob first arrives at the Hotel, he is greeted briefly by about six employees for the Suntory Whiskey company where the give their names and name cards to Bob along with the customary Japanese greeting at which he replies to the unusual custom and the brevity of the meeting, “Short and sweet, very Japanese.”
This movie is perhaps one of Bill Murray’s best in a long time. Not since Rushmore (1998) or The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) has Bill Murray been as agreeable as a leading man. Bill Murray plays an amiably man, though at times condescending, but never insulting. Other times he appears depressed about his lot in life, though he has accepted this and you can see it.
While in the hotel bar, he meets Charlotte – played exceptionally well by Scarlett Johansson (The Horse Whisperer, Ghost World) – who followed her husband to Japan. They develop a friendship a ways into the movie. It begins like two young acquaintances flirting lightly between their brief encounters and one is reminded of Lester Burnham of American Beauty (1999), minus the infatuation. Charlotte’s husband is a celebrity photographer, and his job oftentimes leaves her by her lonesome, thus, making her feel like somewhat of a lost soul – a point that is made more profound because she was a philosophy major from Yale – and seeks attention. Charlotte’s husband, John, is played by Giovanni Ribisi, and though his role is small, it is pivotal as we see him as a workaholic who, though may not want to be, knowing it hurts his wife, does so more out of duty than love for his work. While there, they bump into Kelly (Anna Faris), a movie star in Japan doing interviews, where she insists that John do her shoot. Her part is also small, perhaps smaller than Mr. Ribisi’s, though her part is as comic relief and rather funny, though the real smiles are found not in the light humor served sparsely throughout the movie, rather, in the scenes Bob and Charlotte share together and their mounting friendship.
This movie is neither romantic, nor overly hilarious. There is no love scene and nor would one have made the film better. This is a story of two strangers in a strange land, lost in a world they do not want to be a part of, though accept it.
One great scene is an birds eye view of the two lying in bed (fully clothed) with Bob’s hand on her foot (neither stroking or squeezing, simply upon her foot) where she asks if life gets any easier. Where she confesses, “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be,” to which Bob replies, “You'll figure that out. The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.”
They never develop feelings of romance for each other, rather, they develop a deep and lasting friendship as two lost souls in an unfamiliar world, where the only solace to be found is with each other’s company. This movie is far from dark, instead it is a movie that gives hope. There is redemption for lost souls and that love isn’t necessarily a measure between two lovers, but also a bond between two friends in the unlikeliest of places.

The Rating: (7 of 10) B

The Recommendation:

Lost in Translation is a good movie. Great? No. Good? Yes. There is no romance, there is some comedy, but what makes this movie work is that you genuinely care for the characters. You feel their wants and needs and desires for affection from others. Bob Harris feels his wife no longer needs him, and Charlotte feels her husband forgot about her wants and wishes in pursuit of a career. There are several stretches where the movie seems to drag on, and some scenes that serve no other purpose than as pointless filler. The cinematography is good and shows us the clash between two cultures and several shots of the Tokyo cityscape. The movie is not rushed, which allows for the friendship between Bob and Charlotte to bloom, though it drags on, not often, but still.
I would recommend watching this movie, with or without a friend, it is worthwhile. Bill Murray is spectacular and I have never seen him better. Scarlett Johansson is superb and it is comforting to watch a simply platonic relationship between two people grow into a friendship you can only hope will last forever. Congratulations Ms. Coppola, you did an outstanding job.