You could learn more about Japan from a Viewmaster film than this movie

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2004)

I was greatly disappointed by `Lost in Translation'. I've been in the situation that Bill Murray's character finds himself in: at a loose end in a foreign country. The film captures the sense of alienation and time passing so slowly it seems stuck. It also nicely portrays Murray's character reaching out to Charlotte, the young woman who he meets in his hotel.

However, I was disappointed by the film for two reasons. The first is that it has stunning photography of Tokyo and Kyoto but it views Japan like the two main characters do: through their hotel window. Even when they visit restaurants or night-clubs or in Charlotte's case, temples, the characters do not engage in their surroundings. They treat them as a substandard theme park or theme restaurant, poke fun at them and make fun of the people in them. They even poke fun at the doctors and staff in the hospital. (And what was wrong with Charlotte's foot? We were never told if her toe was broken or bruised although she was seen with a bandage on it.) I can see that Murray's character is there just for the money but Charlotte takes the time to visit temples and Buddhist sites so supposedly she has some interest in Japanese culture. The audience doesn't see much of it. The audience doesn't see much of the friends she has of Japan either.
All of the Japanese - even the friends that Charlotte visits - are shown as laughable. Even if they don't speak bad English the audience is still encouraged to chuckle at them.
I can see why some people would call the movie racist for this reason. But to be fair, all of the people in this movie are shallow. Especially Charlotte. She says that her husband thinks she is a snob because she sneers at the movie star and the LA scene. Charlotte doesn't show much more depth than the blond vapid film star: the blond vapid film star actually says more interesting things that Charlotte does. Charlotte doesn't open a book once during the whole movie and doesn't say anything with any insight.

It is because of this emptiness that I found the film so disappointing. The expression that Murray has on his face when Charlotte leaves the lobby at the end is moving, and so is the final scene. But the film didn't make me like either character. I could feel their loneliness and their culture shock but I didn't have much sympathy for either one of them. Stuck in Tokyo in a top class hotel for a whole week with what looks like an endless amount of cash to spend -- poor them! If I were in their shoes I wouldn't spend that much time in the hotel: I would get out and try to see Tokyo and try to speak openly to the people I met even if they couldn't speak English well. And I would want to see a museum or two. Or a manga store. Murray and Charlotte don't even go shopping.
I would love to know what the Japanese think of this movie. The photography is stunning, but many of the Viewmaster slides I had when I was young also had beautiful pictures of Tokyo and Japan. They showed more about the culture and more respect for the culture too.
I would have loved it if before the end of the movie Godzilla stormed the Tokyo Hilton and squashed Bill Murray and Charlotte and all other smug characters who made fun of the Japanese to a pulp.
I will say one thing in the film's favour: it didn't have any jokes about the food the Japanese eat. But I guess people have grown tired of jokes about sushi and all the food in Japan having suckers on it when every large city in the West has at least one hip sushi bar.