Fear and Loathing in Japan

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2004)

Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation" is a gentle dramedy about a friendship formed due to isolation and loneliness.
Bill Murray plays a once hot actor, recently fallen on hard times, who accepts work doing a whiskey commercial in Japan. Scarlett Johansen is a newly wed married to a hard working photographer who spends the majority of her time keeping to herself in her hotel room. They both share a bond based on isolation by their foreign surroundings, suffering from insomnia and separation from their loved ones. In a short period of time they become the best of friends, able to discuss subjects that they couldn't bring up with their spouses. This is a character piece, deliberately slowly paced that at all times feels real even though the events take place in one week.
Murray is flawless in a seriocomic role. His face expresses perfectly his bewilderment with his new environment, the people and their customs. There are brilliantly comic scenes throughout with Murray in top form. I haven't seen him as good as this since Wes Anderson's "Rushmore". Like every heavy metal rock band can produce a romantic ballad so to does every comedian have a serious performance in them. Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and even Steve Martin have shown their serious side in films but Murray is able to blend the painfully real with laugh out loud hilarity.
Johansen is also strong in the less flashy but by no means lesser role. Her performance is the more emotional of the two and there are small hints in her portrayal that their relationship could lead to more than friendship.
Some people have critized the film about the depiction of the Japanese. I personally feel that the accusations of stereotyping are false and believe that Coppola and her cast were playfully mocking Japanese culture rather than the people themselves.
It's good to see a funny comedy of late that didn't have to rely on crude or violent humour. There are moments of great beauty mostly due to the locations chosen by Coppola and her team. The one problem is length or the slow pace of the film. As an audience we understand that both characters are suffering from insomnia but it's a fine line between establishing their affliction and boring the viewers.
Coppola has suffered the wrath of critics due to her writing ability (Francis Ford Coppola's "Life Without Zoe" segment of the anthology film "New York Stories") and her acting (Francis Coppola's "The Godfather Part III"). But with this release, her sophomore effort as director, she has shown her true talent as a filmmaker and is certainly not riding the coat tales of her famous writer/producer/director father Francis nor her husband director Spike Jonze. (There are rumors that the photographer character portrayed by Giovanni Ribisi is loosely based on Jonze.)
Over all this is a quiet, gentle film that successfully mixes realistic comedy with heartwarming drama and for an independent art house film has definite cross over appeal.