Lost in Translation was lost in translation

Rating: Null/10 (1 February 2004)

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Lost in Translation is the story of two lost souls in a strange land half a world from home, one searching for who she will be and the other struggling with who he has become. Bob Martin [Bill Murray], a middle-aged second-rate actor, struggles with his career that's evolved to doing Japanese whiskey commercials and a marriage degenerated to discussing carpet colors with his wife. Charlotte [Scarlett Johansson], a 20-something philosophy grad, accompanies her non-communicative husband and fashion photographer to Tokyo. Charlotte searches for her future on motivational CD's and self-help books. Bob and Charlotte are drawn to one another because they're in the same hotel, have time on their hands, speak a common language and share related problems; they talk and enjoy Tokyo night life over a period of several days. Time passes and at about the 60-minute mark they have the equivalent of a father-daughter conversation. More time passes and at the 100-minute mark Bob departs for New York, after bidding Charlotte a heartfelt farewell.
Lost in Translation was lost in translation for this viewer [pardon the pun]. It was also an opportunity lost to address what most people struggle with at times in their lives; but that would require a serious screenplay, creative story line, spirited dialogue and emotional acting. Instead, it feels strangely like an earlier Murray film Ground Hogs Day [1993] all over again [pardon the pun]. This film is the story of a reporter who relives Groundhogs Day over and over in Punxsutawney PA, unable to move his life forward. In the current film the character is sleep deprived from jet lag and stumbles from day to day, separated by language from the real events around him, as his Japanese hosts drag him from one photo shoot to the next. Every cloud has a silver lining and in this film that's young actress Scarlett Johansson; she is a bright spot in contrast to the otherwise bleak background of this film. Her reward is a leading role in the artistic hit Girl With a Pearl Earring now showing at art cinemas.

Lost in Translation has received several Academy Award nominations; these may be a tip of-the-hat to film great Francis Ford Coppola, the executive producer and father of the film's director Sophia Coppola. Ms. Coppola has demonstrated her skill in directing The Virgin Suicides [1999] and will rise again. On the other hand, this movie may look to many as a candidate for the 2nd runner-up for best foreign film travelogue that was filmed in Japan [Last Samurai [2003] being the hands down winner]. There may also be autobiographical undertones with casting Bill Murray as a second rate actor whose career is on a downhill glide path. My companion wanted to leave the theater in the middle of the film but, not wanting to wake the sleeping patron beside us [no joke], we stayed until the bloody end.