JAOR Review: Lost In Translation

Plot: Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, an aging movie star filming a series of whisky commercials in Tokyo. Suffering from a mid-life crisis and a passionless twenty-five year marriage, Harris meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johnansson) in the hotel bar. Left to brood in the hotel by her celebrity photographer husband John, (Giovanni Ribis) the considerably younger Charlotte has begun to question her life as well. Together the two begin an unlikely relationship.

Review: Bill Murray hands down is one of the best comedic actors of the last thirty years. His roles as Dr Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, Phil Connors in Groundhog Day, and Herman Blume in Rushmore are as memorable as they are hilarious. I'll even admit that all three of those roles (including others) have had their share of dramatic moments. I'll also even admit that Murray's role in Lost in Translation is probably one of the best of his career.

Having said that, even Murray's performance can't save Lost in Translation from being one of the most boring films of all time. Granted the film opens with a closeup of Johnansson's exquisitely fine posterior, but after that it is all downhill. I can't for the life of me understand why a film that is the movie equivalent of a Zanax/Nyquil induced afternoon received so much run. Director/Writer Sofia Coppola's homage to afternoon naps has the pacing of a 90 year old man with a walker. Even the lighting is dim and uninviting, as if Coppola is asking the audience to fall asleep.

One of the fundamental ingredients to a compelling movie is that things actually have to happen. NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS MOVIE. Or rather things do happen, they just aren't very interesting. Bob and Charlotte's relationship as they examine the culture of Japan and the differences in their own generations makes for precisely zero memorable moments. One begins to wonder why the two have a relationship at all.

Lost in Translation also failed to make me care one iota for either one of these characters. How does Copolla expect anyone to feel sympathy for two people who are massively wealthy but don't like where they are in life? Boo-freakin-hoo. Unlike Crazy Heart, which was actually able to put an new and interesting spin on the life of an alcoholic country singer, Lost in Translation's story about Bob's mid-life crisis comes across as trite and cliche. Even Charlotte and Bob's tearful goodbye, where they predictably go back to their old lives, has as much emotional resonance as grasshoppers mating, which is to say none.

Lost in Translation is an appropriate title for this film because I have no clue what it was trying to convey. Whatever it was I'm sure it wasn't the Japanese word for interesting. Copolla's film in the end feels less like a cinematic masterpiece and more like three week old sushi: it stinks and is hard to look at. Take my advice, you'd be better off passing on this film and watching Murray's Osmosis Jones. At least that movie has cartoons.

My rating: 5/10