Found In Japan

Rating: 7/10 (28 September 2003)

Once upon a time as a young woman, Sopia Coppola no doubt visited Japan and was very lonely there. The two main characters, Bob Harris (very well acted by Bill Murray) and Charlotte (well acted by Scarlett Johannsen) find themselves in Japan in the midst of a midlife crisis (Bob) and a life transition (Charlotte). Each is finding life meaningless and confusing which is compounded by their Japanese setting. (It IS a hard language to master, it is a difficult cultue to relate to, and all of those little gifts the Japanese keep pressing on us -- just about bore us to death.) The pace of their developing friendship and the use of music lyrics to portray what they are feeling is masterful. The first image we see is the behind of a woman with her "groove thing" showing though a pair of gauzy pink panties. This movie will have sex (and sex sells). Yes, there is a little sex, but not what you think, and that was a nice surprise. It was a great look at Tokyo (esp. Ginza district) and Kyoto, with vignettes of Japanese night life and pop culture (such as pachinko, arcade games, karaoke and an inane talk show). But there were too many jabs about the Japanese substituting "L" for "R" -- "lock and loll" for rock and roll, "lip" for rip, etc.