2003’s “Lost in Translation“, written and directed by Sofia
Coppola.
Starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi,
Anna Faris, and Catherine Lambert.
Winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
(Sofia Coppola).
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor
(Bill Murray), and Best Director (Sofia Coppola).
What is it about?
American movie star Bill Murray finds himself in present day
Tokyo, doing some unfulfilling side gigs. Lost in a foreign land of exotic alienation,
he runs into Scarlett Johansson. Johansson is a young, lost soul, stuck in
Japan while her flaky photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) lives the life of
a artist. Murray himself is going through a mid life crisis, with his
relationship with his 2 children and wife back in America becoming more
estranged by the day. Will Murray and Johansson’s chance encounter galvanize
them out of their respective ruts? And will their relationship turn into more
in the land of the rising sun?
Why is it worth seeing?
My #1 movie of 2003, Writer/Director Sofia Coppola brings
her light touch and warm characters and plunks them down in a bustling Tokyo,
home to 8 million. The setting makes for a perfect environment of alienation
and humour, angst and forgiveness, and chaotic peace- and leads Bill Murray and
Scarlett Johansson excel in this setting. It’s tough to not be moved by the
pairing of kindred spirits.
In a movie featuring few characters, but many foreign extras,
we become like Murray and Johansson- lost amongst an alien landscape. In an
unfamiliar place, we gravitate towards the organic star power of our 2 leads.
In particular, Murray has never been better (he was favoured to win, but lost
the Best Actor Oscar to Sean Penn in Mystic
River)- although he was equally as good in 1982’s Tootsie…
What Coppola translates to the screen so well, is the
chemistry between our 2 leads. We go through so many encounters a day that
don’t lead to anything, which is what makes the 2 connecting feel so special.
There are those who will say that it is wrong for the significantly older Murray’s
character to even consider being with Johansson’s, with her being half his age-
and both of them are married to boot. A fair point, and I would have to ask if
those that criticize this gap actually saw the film. For those that did, they
would agree their relationship is platonic, and Johansson’s beyond her years
wisdom and Murray’s newfound boyish charm combine for something more special and
timeless than simply an international fling.
At times, Coppola’s depictions of some of the Japanese bit characters
in the film can feel a little racist and simplistic- the movie definitely seems
to never settle into the complicated question of what a culture is (and isn’t).
And Murray’s wife, never actually seen, while definitely estranged, is also
tough to believe in her nag inspired ways. With that said, the Kyoto sequence,
the relationship between the leads, and the movie’s closing scene, are
transcendent moments in a lovely movie. Here is a film about how we can all get
lost in our lives’ journeys, that begs to be found.
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