Lost in Boredom

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2004)

In the beginning, we see Bob's (Bill Murray's) arrival in Japan. Soon after that, he is sitting on a chair, posing for pictures for the commercial he is doing. He is given direction about what to do, but it is all in Japanese. A lot is said, yet the translator says practically nothing. It is frustrating for him, since he knows the person said much more. It is frustrating for us also, since there is no translation for us either; however I assume that is the intent.
Note that the reason there is a translation problem is that there was no effort to translate. I get that impression of the movie also; there is relatively small effort (compared to how "big" the movie is) to communicate what is happening.
There is not much effort to show cultural differences, which is what we would expect, based on the title. The story is about two bored people, as if Japan is boring (is it?). We see images of Japan, but not much about difficulties relating in Japan, other than being bored.