One of the great things about movie-going is that you will occasionally see an actor or actress in a performance that you know is going to change their career. Sometimes you see a film that provides that career-making role for two people. Rarely, though, do you see a film that provides two career-defining roles as well as being a showcase for the talent of a young director. Lost in Translation is one of those rare films.
Bob Harris (Bill Murray in his finest role to date) is a relative has-been actor who’s in Tokyo to film a commercial for Suntory whiskey. They’re paying him $2 million and he’s only doing it for the money. His career seems to be over. His marriage is on life support. After filming his scenes, he spends a lot of time in the hotel bar. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is married to a rock photographer (Giovanni Ribisi). They’re in Japan so he can shoot an up-and-coming band. He goes to work and leaves her to explore the city alone. She too ends up in the hotel bar.
Charlotte and Bob meet and strike up a quick friendship. They begin to explore the city and their feelings about where they are in their lives. They have the kind of conversations that a couple might have on their first few dates. They understand each other in a kind of relieving way, as if they’ve each finally met someone else that “gets” them. It’s a relationship that borders on romance and melancholy at the same time.
Murray’s performance is subtle and beautifully layered. He’s funny, sad, and tired — sometimes all at once. A scene involving a photo shoot, where the photographer asks him to pose in some odd positions while holding a glass of whiskey, is priceless. Bill Murray has had some strong supporting roles that allowed him to explore a little of his acting prowess but this is the role that should catapult him into a serious actor if not win him an Academy Award.
Scarlett Johansson, who was wonderful in Ghost World and The Man Who Wasn’t There, is astonishing here. In real life she’s only 18 but she plays a mid-twenties newlywed without ever seeming unbelievable. Her character is intelligent and funny and Johansson turns in a performance that’s full of longing, sexy wit and humor.
Writer/director Sofia Coppola has made what I would consider the single best film of 2003. It’s subtle, brilliant and moving. It’s light years ahead of The Virgin Suicides, which she also wrote and directed. Here, she has everything perfectly in place. The Japanese location, which is almost a character itself, provides humor and beauty which counters Bob and Charlotte’s dislocated feelings. It’s to her credit that she does not allow her characters to just have sex and worry about it later. That would have been the “Hollywood” way to handle things and this film is too smart for that.
It would also be criminal not to mention the small role that Anna Faris plays as Kelly, a Hollywood starlet who is shockingly similar to Cameron Diaz in terms of ditziness. Faris is delightfully dim in the role, especially a scene where she describes her father as anorexic. (Trust me, it’s funny.)
I have not enjoyed any film this year as much as I enjoyed Lost in Translation. I enjoyed the performances of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson and I really enjoyed the direction of Sofia Coppola. And that’s the only way I can describe Lost in Translation: purely enjoyable.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
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