Overrated "Masterpiece" which doesn't deserve any awards

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2004)

I am glad that I didn't have to pay for this movie. This movie is simply overrated, sugarcoated racist movie, which doesn't deserve Golden Globe win or Oscar nomination. My only hope is this movie will go home empty handed from Oscar about a month from now.
I can see why this movie is getting so much attention. Aside from the fact that Sofia Coppola, daughter of you-know-who directed this movie, there are some visually stunning moments. Scenery of ancient Kyoto, night view of modern day Tokyo and the way the movie was edited is clearly influenced by many of the modern Japanese movies. It's different from so called Hollywood blockbuster film. It is all about novelty and there is not much more in this. Supposedly a platonic love story between former movie star Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) seems pointless and it's really not helped by the way 99% of Japanese locals are being portrayed in this movie. Yes, it is about how much they feel alienated in Tokyo but I'm not sure how much important it was to portray Japanese as bunch of buffoons. It would have been some cute, beautifully pictured India film but the very portrayal of Japanese people tainted the movie so much that it got me to the point not caring about these two lost individuals. Sure, they try to enjoy the night out in Tokyo with Charlotte's former Japanese friends (probably from college, I'm guessing. The only 1% of Japanese in this movie who seemed a little bit more human than the others but not by much) but especially Bob, he cannot get over his xenophobic attitude towards Japanese. So they feel alienated? Well, sorry, they asked for it. Not our problem. At least, not mine.
Sofia Coppola mentioned in several interviews how much she loved Japan. Sure, she may love Japan but only the scenery or some ancient aspects of Japan. She can't accept modern day Japanese people for the way they are. That shows in Bob's dialogue. (Remember, she also wrote the script) She must have known that if she only put modern, `weird' Japanese people in the movie, she would be accused of being racist. Therefore, you see all these beautiful scenery of ancient Kyoto to justify herself supposedly `loving' Japan. That way, hopefully she thought she could get away with crude portrayal of contemporary Japanese. But that doesn't make her less of a racist. She knows what she is doing. She essentially doesn't give a f*** about people who live there and it shows.
Clearly what Coppola did is highlighting what she felt is weird about modern Tokyo and sugarcoated with some pretty sights. I lived there myself and I have seen them all of these. She was successful in deceiving some people's eyes but she can't fool everyone. It's a full of cheap laugh against Japanese and its humor is somewhat similar to Harlan William's Jay Leno Show skit with Thai American family in Los Angeles. (The only difference is this movie did not insult religious objects) Some Japanese people who try to communicate with Bob in poor English are shown as morons by the way Bob reacts and Coppola's directorial choices. As someone who lived there to teach English for a while, it was very painful for me to watch. Plus the fact that positive portrayal of Asians is lacking in American entertainment makes this movie unacceptable.
So again, I'm glad I didn't pay for this movie. It was not particularly pleasant 1 hour and 45 minutes. It's too bad that this could have been `Roman Holiday' of 2003. Instead, this descends to the level of Mr. Unioshi (Micky Rooney) in `Breakfast at Tiffany's.'