Good but not great; interesting but not captivating

Rating: Null/10 (29 February 2004)

I enjoyed this movie (I would probably give it a 7) but there were too many long slow streches. In a nutshell the movie is about lonliness and isolation for two different americans who find themselves together in Japan for a week or so.
What I liked was the way that the director very accurately captures the feeling of being is a foreign land (very foreign Japan in this case) and pours on top of that the personal isolation of two people who have drifted apart in their personal relationships. Both Murry and Johannsen were good in their lonely roles.
What I didn't like was that the movies was almost entirely devoid of dialog (yes this does help the mood somewhat but makes the movie too boring) and despite the comic potential is seemed as if the comic scenes were excised from the final product (as another commenter noted). This leaves the overall product original but weak.
One additional remark - No Way (!) this movie deserves best anything. It is neither best picture nor best actor (just Murry being Murry) nor any other category I can mention. It barely rises above the mediocre.