(rated PG-13)
Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris a burned out American movie star who has traveled to Japan to do a whiskey commercial. Stranded in some five star hotel he can’t connect with the sushi, kimonos or sub-titled Japanese action films but he does connect with Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) a young lonely woman whose fashion photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is slipping away, after only two years of marriage. While Bob and Charlotte seem like an unlikely teaming – his age, his 25 years marriage — they are actually perfectly matched to help each other through their emotional limbo. While nothing much happens in the movie, subtle director Sophia Coppola (yes, Francis Ford’s daughter) makes a lot happen. And with not much to say, Murray at his quietest, says a lot. Coppola’s ability to be a first rate comedian with an intimate story that leaves us satisfied (without sex) is beyond any independent filmmakers wildest dreams. Murray is the deadpan Murray we love, with scenes that let him do his Murray-esque thing. Tokyo is Tokyo defined as one would imagine it to be. Lost In Translation is certainly a movie worth finding.
