CATRIONA PAUL at the Movies.

WINNER OF THREE Golden Globes and up for four Oscars at this month’s Academy Awards, writer and director Sofia Coppola has brought to the screen no average rom-com. Lost in Translation is a subtle, sincere, moving film of an unlikely relationship set in the crazy, luminous city of Tokyo.
 
Brought together by insomnia, jaded actor Bob Harris and bright young lost thing Charlotte, have night hours to fill and loneliness and boredom to fight. Harris, played by Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), is in Japan to film a whisky commercial. Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johanson (Girl with a Pearl Earring), is a young graduate who has accompanied her photographer husband to the city but is looking for purpose in life.

Both are wondering at the logic which brought them to this city. They could break down into Dawson Creek-style psycho babble and start asking life’s Big Questions. But they’re intelligent enough to realise there are no satisfactory answers, so instead they have some fun getting distracted by Tokyo folly. This leads to some of the film’s funniest moments as the pair get lost in strip bars and karaoke sessions, filmed in a quasi-documentary style which keeps the evening alive.
 
Unlike many films, Lost in Translation is not make or break on a big boom ending. It’s content to take its time, reveal the individuals, and share a relationship coming together. A subtle film set in a brash brash city, Tokyo is as memorable as the wonderful, understated performances of the lead actors. Murray and Johanson create a believable friendship out of humour and isolation that is compelling. If you haven’t seen it already (and it comes your way), go buy a ticket forthwith.
 
LOST IN TRANSLATION (15)
General release, selected cinemas

Director: Sofia Coppola
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Catherine Lambert, Akiko Takeshita
Certificate: 15
Running time: 102 minutes
Country: US/Japan
Year: 2003
 
 
© Catriona Paul, 2004