How about...no.

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2006)

The film "Lost In Translation" is a visually beautiful, yet strangely hollow film. How so, you may ask? Allow me to explain.
Basically, this film is about a aging film star named Bob Harris (played with excellent comedic timing, as always, by Bill Murray) who has come to Tokyo, Japan to film a commercial for a Japanese alcoholic beverage company. While staying at a ritzy hotel in the city, he meets a young woman named Charlotte (played by Scarlett Johannson) who is staying in the city with her photographer husband. Basically, they both get incredibly bored, and run around the city to engage in a number of hilarious encounters with Japanese people who they can't understand.
Is the acting in this film good? Better than that, it's excellent. Is the cinematography good? It's amazing. Is the film any good? Well...
My main problem with the film is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. The film claims to be a drama, yet we see many instances throughout the movie of Bob and/or Charlotte failing to understand the Japanese language, and this results in humorous misinterpretations of what the Japanese are trying to say. Lost in translation? More like lost in a pun that's gone on too long.
Another problem with this film exists in Bill Murray's character. That's not to say that Murray does a bad job, because he gives a terrific performance. The thing is, Murray is a comedic actor, not a dramatic actor. He has been doing comedy films for years, and scenes that are meant to have a serious quality become funny due to Murray's expressions and movements. This makes scenes become less grave and more light-hearted, which I don't believe was the intent of the director.
Does the film portray the Japanese in a racist light? Judging by what I've seen of Japanese culture, absolutely not. I can't speak for everyone, but I have seen Japanese citizens in the media who act like the people in this film to, so I wasn't really surprised at all.
Finally, I come to the ending. The plot summary for the film says that the the word "translation" means, "How do you "translate" what life is? What is it supposed to be about?", and that's a pretty good way to summarize how I felt about this film. It doesn't really translate anything. The incidents feel forced, the characters don't see each other that often, and we are supposed to believe that they have found some sort of epiphany in their lives. When the film ends, the characters must realize that they have to go back to reality. Bob still has a failing marriage, Charlotte is still married to her loser husband, and nothing has changed. Did they learn anything. No, nothing I couldn't have learned after watching Japanese television for a few hours.
A user on the IMDb named "M" said that, and I quote, "The crucial word in all this is SUBTLETY." I mean, it wasn't like the incidents were just forced upon us, right? Oh, I forgot. That's the whole crux of the film, to put the main characters into awkward and funny situations. There's nothing subtle about that at all. Do I like sensitive movies? Yes. However, I don't like sensitive movies that have a heavy-handed and utterly inconsequential message.
Bottom Line: Did I like this film? More or less. The acting, direction and cinematography are great. The plot is lacking. I give this film a 5 out of 10. If you want to watch, be my guest, but don't expect to get some grand revelation after watching it.