dreamy atmospheric ambiguous cinematic thoughtful

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2008)

This movie vividly captures the feeling of being depaysee (out of one's familiar surroundings). The main characters are both lost in Japan, unmoored and lonely, tired, unable to sleep, jet-lagged and confused. Coppola captures this ethos perfectly. The setting is magnificent- a luxurious but cold hotel in Tokyo and the lights/sounds/swirling/frenetic activity in the streets below. Bill Murray nails the jaded Bob and his midlife crisis perfectly. Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte is just realizing that her marriage is not all she expected it to be and that no marriage can provide her with the life direction she is seeking. Charlotte and Bob are both intelligent and highly attuned to the nonsense (e.g. Charlotte's husband's self-absorption, the inanity spewed by the actress Kelly, the artiness of the crew directing the commercial) that surrounds them. High above the Tokyo streets, both protagonists are trapped in their luxurious but cold setting and the two forge an ambiguous, tender bond. It is to Coppola's credit that the bond remains ambiguous to the end (what did they say to one another in the final scene?) and that the movie avoids the traps that could so easily have ensued had the two had allowed the obvious attraction between them to become explicitly sexual. Coppola allows Bob and Charlotte's story to unfold in its own messy,goofy, unclassifiable way. The scenes involving the filming of the whiskey commercial are hysterical. The scene where Murray sings "More than this" at the Karaoke bar perfectly captures the film's spirit: unpolished, ambiguous, heartfelt and ironic.