A Good Movie With Some Great Moments. Visually Interesting With Little Dialog.

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2019)

To really understand this movie, you need to have had a vacation romance, or a 'summer fling', or met someone in a random airport bar, or met someone at camp as a teenager, or any other romance that was predestined to be temporary. Being in a foreign environment makes us emotionally vulnerable. When you connect with someone it seems extra special because you are in this special place under these special circumstances. Because it's temporary, you never get a chance to see the other person's flaws or shortcomings. A stranger can become an intimate companion in a matter of days. And, then they say goodbye.
In my opinion, this movie gets a lot of things wrong. But, the one it REALLY gets right is the goodbye. The goodbye is always awkward. It's so hard. You never know what to say, because there is nothing to say that will ever make it less difficult. Sometimes you want to just avoid the goodbye, altogether - which is probably worse. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. Whether you ghost someone on the last day or you share an emotional goodbye in your final moments together, your heart gets ripped out either way.
Despite all of the things that I might have found irritating about this film, Sophia Coppola created a sexy film with great shots of Japan, and she filmed a near perfect 'travel romance goodbye sequence'.
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria:
Acting - 1/1;
Casting - 1/1;
Directing - 1/1;
Story - 1/1;
Writing/Screenplay - 1/1;
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -):
Originality: +1;
Cinematography: +1;
Authentic Location Shooting: +1 (Japan);
Believability/Consistency: -0.5 (The choice of Bill Murray was quite bold. The age difference is intentionally difficult to deal with, but maybe too difficult at times. I struggle to accept certain scenarios in the film.);
Detrimentally Prudish Directing: -0.5 (She wears a bra and a tank top to bed every night, huh? Sure she does... So many panty shots; yet, none when she wore the blue thong... Female director.) ;
Total RealReview Rating: 7