Ho hum

Rating: 5/10 (5 April 2004)

I thought that the film was cute and entertaining, but no where near "Best Picture" caliber. It reminded me of the films of Francois Truffaut, especially "Jules and Jim" without the death. It rambled on without rhyme or reason and we had some interesting glimpses of Tokyo and this couple but never really knew them. It was a slice of life but with no real story. Bill Murray was great considering what he had to work with, which was very little character development.
I was in Tokyo for a year and a half and I was disappointed at how little Sophia Coppola used the strangeness of Tokyo. She could have commented on capsule hotels, love hotels, porno comics, the red light district in Shinjuku, the Harajuku rock 'n roll weekends, the Pachinko parlors, finding a Gelson's type store that sold American and European foods (this was the only place I could find Campbell soup, Taco meat mix and artichokes!), and Denny's where I could get a real American breakfast. Beware of hotel restaurants where they have sausages made from fish!
There's still a wealth of stories to be had of a gaijin in Tokyo, I wish Sophia made a good one.