Interesting but unsatisfactory

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2006)

Lost in Translation is a film about two people who found each other at a time of loneliness and shared a few moments of fun, happiness and consolation. A modern day Brief Encounter of sorts. It has its touching moments and it leaves a sense of sadness at the end.
It is the kind of film I would like, but I don't. Perhaps it lost me at the beginning, when the main character Bob Harris, as played by Bill Murray, displayed a "can't be bothered" attitude towards the people who pay him a fortune to do a job (he should realised that if he can't be bothered to be nice then don't take the money!). There is also something vaguely racist and offensive about the portrayal of Japanese in the film as some weird alien creatures to whom you don't owe some sincere display of courtesy or civility. And so for me there is little sense of empathy towards him or his feeling of loneliness and boredom, and the story falls a bit flat from then on.
Charlotte is played with great sensitivity by Scarlett Johansson who is a revelation in this film. As for Bill Murray, despite the praises he has garnered in this film, I'm not really sure he can really display anything deeper apart than making a few faces or just looking bored. It's fine for Ghostbusters but not really for film of this type which requires something much more subtle.