A quite, subtle study

Rating: 9/10 (19 September 2003)

Have you ever wound up in a foreign land and thought, "What am I doing here?"
This movie addresses the alienation of that experience, the need to find camaraderie with another person, if only to validate the just plain weirdness of the sensation... the two main characters are neither heroes nor anti-heroes. What they have in common is that they are lost in another country, swallowed by its overwhelming culture; and they are lost in their respective marriages, where their partners seem to be calling the shots. And there is no solution offered, and they don't see more than glimpses of a disney-world-on-crack Tokyo. Instead they turn inwards, examining themselves & each other. So, yes, nothing happens. But at the same time, everything changes. Or, you can sense the characters wish that it would.
Beautifully filmed, a lovely & ambient soundtrack from members of Air & My Bloody Valentine.