Good work done on a horribly flawed and distasteful premise

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2003)

My problem with this film is the premise upon which Ms. Coppola engineers her primary theme. This theme is the search for comfort and familiarity in the face of overwhelming alienation, and it is a worthy and meaningful issue to explore. "Lost in Translation" does this well, and beautifully.
The premise for engendering this struggle of alienation, however, is the dislocation of two Americans (Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson) in Toyko. This dislocation, however, is not only unnecessary, but deeply regrettable: These two Americans who find themselves outside of their country do not respond to difference by opportunistically attempting to explore this difference and thereby inform their own identities. Instead, the hero and heroine decide to reject and dismiss the difference around them as inherently flawed, inferior, and inscrutable. Murray and Johansson spend their energies childishly sulking at difference and mocking it rather than attempting to better understand it. Finally, after much hand-wringing and angst, these two Americans find and identify each other as the comforting and easily understandable antidote to all of this troubling difference: sameness. The relief and joy each feels in rejoicing in their sameness creates the emotional impetus to propel the remainder of the plot forward.
It is here that the film fails in its ugliness, thoughtlessness, and cowardice. Two ugly Americans, childishly mocking and rejecting difference because it challenges them? I analogize this to an eleven-year old throwing a temper tantrum because the French restaurant to which the family has gone does not serve Chicken McNuggets. "It is different, so it must be worse; I will mock it and make absolutely no effort into understanding it. My only hope for salvation, and truly critical self-discovery and enlightenment, cannot come from exploring difference; it must come from finding another American who can reaffirm my provincial and self-centered worldview." This is the premise upon which "Lost in Translation" is constructed, and this is the failure of the film.
This failure, furthermore, does not serve as a mere unfortunate aside to an otherwise excellent work. Instead, it directly undermines and sabotages the very principles of self-awareness, beauty, and discovery that comprise the film's emotional and intellectual message. In this way the film renders itself not only distasteful, but also short-sighted and flawed.