Big in Japan

Rating: 5/10 (6 March 2019)

Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, this is a bittersweet tale of two Americans who come across each other in Tokyo. They seem to connect like lost souls but maybe that was because they felt stranded in a foreign country.
Bob (Bill Murray) is faded movie star filming a lucrative whiskey commercial in Japan. Away from his family, he feels lost in Japan.
Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) has arrived in Tokyo with her photographer husband. While he is busy working on a photo shoot, she is at a loose end. When both Bob and Charlotte meet at a bar they explore the Tokyo night life and have fun together.
I first watched this movie on a place soon after it was released. I gave up after 10 minutes because nothing much was happening.
It does take a while to get going and it works mainly because of the two stars. The combination of the jaded Bob whose career is in decline and maybe his home life is troubled. He is rather self centred as he has no issues picking up women. Charlotte is younger, only been married for a few years and is still trying to figure out life.
I once heard someone say that Tokyo is a place where you know you are in a foreign country and it is easy to feel disconnected if you are a westerner. That is what has occurred to Bob and Charlotte. If they bumped to each other in New York for example, they would just then passed each other by.
The film is not much of a comedy and I think Murray who was Oscar nominated for his role is not exactly stretching himself here.
Director Sofia Coppola adds a few flourishes such as two women giggling behind Bob as a Japanese man talks to him in a hospital waiting room.