If you've lived in Japan, will hit you like a hammer...

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 2003)

Wow! I give this an 8/10. Extremely strong film. That being said, I have a hard time imagining how the film must strike people who have never been lost in a very foreign culture for an extended period. All the negative reviews posted here are probably the answer.
This film is eerily accurate in its portrayal of how westerners relate to one another in big-city Japan, especially in those first months. Note that I don't say this is a portrayal of Japan -- it's not really that. It's describing how it is to float on the surface of a deep culture. Things float by or suddenly surface that seem meaningless, beautiful, scary, hilarious. You're surrounded by signs but can't read them.
It's not that unpleasant -- you meet lots of nice people who smile, many of them genuinely wanting to get to know you. But your isolation, if you've never felt it before, can make you cry suddenly for no reason. And when you meet a stranger from your own continent (or even some Euro-type), your soul is ready to be touched.
That's what the atmosphere is about. I think people get it or don't depending on whether they have known real isolation. As for the acting, I have never enjoyed Bill Murray more. He is absolutely hilarious. And the wildness of the settings (to our eye) makes his deadpan delivery all the more absurdly funny.
I thought this was a beautiful story of two people who feel an illicit attraction, put up their own imperfect resistance even though they seem not to feel like they can, and finally arrive at a kind of triumph. They don't just fall in love. They do the right thing, in the most tender and touching way.
As for the comments some are making that this movie stereotypes Japan, no, it doesn't. That's really how it looks to you those first months, even if you love it. There was only one scene that I suspected was overdone (the talk show host) but even that wasn't actually far off many late night shows I've actually seen. I hadn't seen one exactly that silly...but many that came close enough. Most importantly, the whole thing is done with obvious affection. Note the loving takes of Japanese beauty, whether in temples, art, manners, people. I think the director is very honest in not treating the Japanese characters as set pieces. They are clearly competent, compassionate, funny, cool, generous. It's not their fault they say something that strikes us as hilarious. Neither is it ours to find it funny.