BILL MURRAY: THE ACTOR OF MANY FACES

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2003)

BILL MURRAY does with his face what Yo-Yo Ma does with the cello. He's a master of this very personal instrument. The slightest glance can mean so many things: disgust, bewilderment, irritation, incredulity or sarcasm. Then the eyes revert to their deadpan glaze, and you wait with giggly anticipation for the next subtle reaction.
"Lost in Translation," Sofia Coppola's charmingly offbeat film, finds Murray in Tokyo, bored and existentially flummoxed as Bob Harris, a past-his-prime actor who has come to the Japanese capital to shoot a series of lucrative whiskey commercials.
Harris is not a happy camper. He's surrounded by a culture that's eerily familiar -- in terms of its shameless, gross commercialism -- yet also exclusive. The incessant bows and smiles that follow him are artificial, a Kabuki show. Things aren't better at home, either. His conversations with his wife in the United States are emotionally frigid. She sends him rug samples for his new office at home. She needs his opinion but apparently not his love.
At his hotel, Bob meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the bored twenty-something wife of a fashion photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) who's also in town for some commercial gig. Ignored by her husband, who's captivated by his famous, comely models, Charlotte is at loose ends. Like Bob, she feels empty and unfulfilled. And like Bob, she can't sleep. Late one night, they find themselves sitting next to each other at the hotel bar. They compare notes. He's been married 25 years, she for two. She tells him she studied philosophy in college.
"There's a good buck in that racket," jokes Bob. These two may be years apart in age (he's in his fifties), but it's clear they're made for each other. And in this neon-lit limbo, where everything is strange, that's very compelling.
If Murray has an imposing corner on the comic dynamism in this movie, Johansson is no less compelling for her mysticism, self-assurance and charm. She's as vital to this movie as he is, for it's her life force that recharges his spiritual dead battery. Ignored and unappreciated by their spouses, they give each other newfound purpose. And you feel yourself almost screaming for these two to find some way to join souls and live the life they should.
On the surface, "Lost in Translation," which Coppola also wrote, is about the crazy pop-life of Tokyo. Bob has to contend, at one point, with a hooker he hasn't even requested who refuses to take no for an answer. And you haven't lived till you've seen Bob doing a karaoke version of Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" or his new Japanese buddy (called Charlie Brown) singing along to the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen."
But the movie is also about two souls getting ever closer. The crucial question is: What kind of relationship should they have? Are they aspiring friends, lovers or both? Or neither? For an entire, thoroughly enjoyable movie, they undergo a sort of delicate negotiation. And thanks to two delightful performers, you're drawn powerfully to the outcome.
10 OUT OF 10 -