Not a "Sleepless In Toyko" (minor spoiler)

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2004)

I'm not a particular fan of the undoubtedly-talented Bill Murray, but here he gives his best performance since "Groundhog Day" as Bob, a middle-aged actor selling his soul to make a whiskey commercial for the lucrative Japanese market. I've never seen Scarlett Johannson in a movie before, but this young actress, pretty in a plain way, shows considerable promise as Charlotte, a 22 year old philosophy graduate and recent bride who is already as lost as the older man.
The two dislocated and disoriented characters find themselves unable to sleep in the capital's Park Hyatt Hotel and unable to connect with a society which seems so soulless and alien, but this "Sleepless In Toyko" story is a million miles from the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan offering, eschewing a neat final coupling in favour of a chaste parting with some unheard words of wisdom or comfort. All credit then to writer, director and co-producer Sofia Coppola who, having recovered from her miscasting in "The Godfather III", is proving to be an able and unconventional creator of original movies.
Maybe the work is a bit hard on the Japanese whose frivolous pursuit of excessive politeness, the easy laugh, and everything bright and electronic is easy to parody. Most of the movie is set in the entertainment district of Shinjuku, where I have been and which actually has an incredible buzz, and there is the almost obligatory scene of karaoke, which I have performed (in the interests of international relations). There is another side to the Japanese which the film only hints at with a brief trip to a temple in Kyoto, but Americans always find it difficult to appreciate another culture.