Well... Bill Murray was good...

Rating: 6/10 (11 February 2004)

Lost in Translation is a film about a relationship between a faded Hollywood star and a bored wife, set against the background of Tokyo.
I'm unsure how to view this movie, if it were a book I think I would characterise it as interesting but poorly written. The film is very much about a message rather than pure entertainment, and that message is put across as much visually as it is verbally. The basic message seems to be about the problems with communication that exist at all levels of society, with the difficulties that the main American characters have interacting with Japanese society mirroring their own problems with their own private relationships. The film manages to get this message across, however I found much of the film dull. Why all the staring out of windows over Tokyo, staring out of car windows, and wandering around Pachinko parlours. It gets the message across that people are bored/jet lagged, in a foreign culture, and allows for some nice street scenes of Japan, but all this could have been foregone with a bit more dialogue and acting. Just because the character is meant to be bored does not mean that the audience has to be bored with them. Therefore I think several minutes could be cut from the film without damaging the message. Additionally, the relationship between Murray and Johansson didn't make me feel for either of the characters. The way I saw it they were both quite selfish, well certainly as selfish as their respective spouses. And I think this is where the film failed. You were left asking: A couple of people you don't really feel for are having a boring time on a business trip in Tokyo. So what?'

As for the acting: Bill Murray was excellent (and certainly rescued this film), Johansson was nice to look at, but didn't really say anything of meaning - she seemed characterless, the assorted Japanese characters were all excellent, Ribisi wasn't really in the movie, and Faris did a nice cameo as the airhead actress.
However, overall I felt although I understood the movie, it was too intellectualtoo cleverbasically required too much work analysing what everything meant rather than generating feelings or enjoying the film. I almost felt that the film needed a little guidebook to let the viewer know the meaning and symbolism of each shot.