Beautiful! A movie that anyone who lives in foreign country will understand completely.

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2005)

I'd heard all about it, read about, it but somehow 'the synopsis' and the cover image of Bill Murry sat in his dressing-gown put me off for a while. Anyway, I finally saw it the other day and was really captivated by the emotional depth that this film conveys. The characters, both so different, are displayed in their stark isolation against the ultra modern, exotic, but alien canvas of urban japan. I found myself analising both of them closely. The need to maintain a front of control and geniality despite the emptiness all around. Their attraction - human rather than sexual (but we all sense it!) - is problematised by their ages and personal backgrounds... I, as a male can already empathise with Murry's character and am sure I will more and more as I get older. I'm sure the same is true from a female point of view. It is also (strangely, I suppose) an escapist movie because you can't help experiencing events totally through the eyes of the characters.. The music was perfect, the lighting, the lonely but amiable comfort of a whiskey in a piano bar in a skyscraper at 4am somewhere on the other side of the world....
One of the best movies I've seen in ages!