Exquisite

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2004)

There are feelings which are universal. Almost all human beings have the need to be loved and the need to love others. Sadly, the reverse is true as well. Loneliness is an aspect to human existence that is hard to live with yet easy to share. It is an irony that each of us have experienced. "Misery loves company," and never has that been more true than with the characters in Sofia Coppola's exquisitely crafted Lost in Translation.
Sofia, daughter of auteur Francis, made a minor splash with the surreal The Virgin Suicides in 1999. Here she has evolved into a mature storyteller of two lost souls from America who find each other in Japan. He (Bill Murray) is a falling star in Hollywood who is still worth money in the land of the rising sun. He has agreed to fly there in order to film advertisements for a local liquor company. She (Scarlett Johansson) resides temporarily with her photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi).
Somewhat by chance, mainly by cultural bonding, the two find they are kindred spirits in a strange land. Murray's character is trapped in a loveless marriage and feels he has sold out to accept money from Japanese businessmen. Johansson wonders about her place in the world, both existentially and professionally. A philosophy graduate, she is confused about the state of her life and is further annoyed by the man she has married; his absences and shallow friends and acquaintances do not make her life any easier.
Johansson, still a relative newcomer, continues her string of successful performances but the true revelation here is Bill Murray. From my description it might be hard to understand that Translation is actually a comedy, a dark comedy, but a comedy all the same. Murray breathes a morose lovable quality to his character unlike anything he has ever portrayed before.
If there is anything wrong with the film, it is the filler. Coppola's idea is fresh and colorful but is only mostly baked. What she has is tremendous, but there are a series of scenes that involve the two characters wandering around video game parlors and strip clubs and sushi bars. Some of it is interesting: watching lost souls meander a different world from their own. But much of these scenes simply bridge the delicate start with the emotional ending. Though it all works in one sense, it is easy to see through the obvious void.
Despite the flaw, Lost in Translation will delight those who are patient and willing to watch films which are sometimes difficult. It is these ambitious films that are the silent backbone for the movie industry's golden paychecks like Mean Girls and Pirates of the Caribbean. ***.5 out of ****