Lost In Translation

Writer-director Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation isn’t like most romantic comedies. Her story caters to the special talents of Bill Murray, who plays a faded movie star, Bob Harris, in Tokyo making a whisky commercial for a cool $2 million. His hooded eyes and tired smirk betray a man who long ago ceased looking for art in his endeavours. With a nagging wife back home and suffering jet lag and cultural shock, he finds a kindred spirit in Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a woman in her early 20s trying to fill time worrying about her future while her photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is busy working.

Coppola is in no hurry to advance the plot toward an obvious destination; she lets life unfurl the way it does in real life. The bond between Bob and Charlotte develops so slowly, and with such a complete lack of contrivance, that the resolution hits us with far more impact than we could ever expect. The pleasure comes from just watching as the two get to know each other while we wonder ‘will they? won’t they? should they?’ as the frantic Tokyo culture erupts around them. And a woozy sensation of being caught in time and space persists throughout the film, casting us in that spell that hits everyone who reaches the crossroads where big dreams meet shattered expectations. Lost In Translation is quite simply one of the year’s best films.

- Peter Howell, The Toronto Star