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Lost In Translation is also remarkable because it represents major evolutions in the work of its star, Bill Murray, and writer/director Sofia Coppola.
With his wonderfully subtle turn as a weary, middle-aged actor who finds new life in Japan, Murray is a transfixing figure. Here, he gives the kind of affecting, complex performance he only teased audiences with in Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. You still sense the old, wiseacre Murray here -- but he's still able to convey a vulnerability and believability that makes this the best performance of his career.
Meanwhile, Coppola makes good on the promise she displayed with 1999's The Virgin Suicides: She's grown as an artist by leaps and bounds since that well-received first feature. This film is a funny, richly-characterized and melancholy slice of life that dares to give you a romance with none of the cliches.
Lost In Translation, shot entirely in Japan, features Murray as Bob Harris, an American actor who travels to the Far East to shoot a whiskey commercial. It's his first time in the land of the rising sun, and he's jetlagged and not adjusting well to the cultural differences. He's also, it's clear, stuck in a dissatisfying marriage back home.
His life is changed when he meets a fellow American, Charlotte (played by the luminous Scarlett Johansson), a young newlywed who has accompanied her photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) to Japan. She's also feeling lonely, jetlagged and disconnected with the world -- while her husband is consumed by his work, she's left at the hotel alone.
But when she and Bob connect -- gradually over time -- they forge a friendship that verges on romance as they hit the nightlife in Japan, whether it's singing at karaoke bars, eating sushi, or just staying in and watching old black and white movies. There's a terrific scene that encapsulates their relationship, in which Charlotte lays her head on Bob's shoulder and he doesn't know whether to put his arm around her. He just ends up clasping his hands together.
And while the film holds up well dramatically, there are a lot of very funny moments, courtesy of Murray, who's at the top of his game. He gets a lot of laughs, whether it's trying to understand what a Japanese commercial director is saying or nearly wiping out on an exercise machine. Anna Faris, too, is very funny in her brief scenes as a ditzy young movie star.
Lost In Translation is simply a superbly crafted movie, with knowing dialogue, fine performances and characters that you grow to care deeply for. Remember it when you're compiling that list of the year's better films.
(This film is rated PG)