A beauteous film

Rating: 8/10 (5 April 2010)

There is a beauty that is pervasive throughout the film Lost in Translation. I see it in the gorgeous photography that shows us the city of Tokyo in all its glory. I hear it in the expressive soundtrack that enhances the emotions experienced throughout. Most of all, though, I feel it in the connection between Bob and Charlotte, two lonely Americans drifting through a brief stay in Japan's capital.
Bob is an actor doing promotional work for Santorey Whiskey. Charlotte is accompanying her photographer husband on a job that brings him across the Pacific Ocean. Both characters are married, but experiencing bumps in their marriages and doubts about their spouses. And both are feeling isolated in a city of millions. A series of chance meetings in their hotel draws them together. They are soon experiencing the city together, enjoying each other's company.
One of the concerns I had going into this movie was the potential for, for lack of a better word, "squick" between Bill Murray's and Scarlett Johanssen's characters. Murray is old enough to be Johanssen's father, and I was afraid that the movie was going to take us to very uncomfortable places with that age difference. Thankfully, no such "squick" occurred. There is certainly an intimacy between them in the way that they share their feelings and concerns, but nothing that feels inappropriate.
Overall, Lost in Translation is quite a lovely film. It may take a viewing or two to truly understand or appreciate it; it took me five years before I really got it. But once you get it, it's certainly worth the watch.