Bob and Charlotte in Japan. Review on Lost in Translation Movie

“People think if you get to be eighty, you're old, you're sad. But when you're eighty, you know how to act eighty. You also know how to act ten, fifteen, thirty, fifty. You can always act ten. You can always flirt with a younger woman. You now have just a bit more . . . you can be eighty.”

Henry Miller from “I’m turning 80”

There are many people who get depressed when they are in the middle of their life. That is the time when you have to focus on your kids.Sometimes,they think that their best times are over .Your wife/husband would focus more on the kids rather than yourself. But the thing is many don’t understand that age is a matter of feeling more than just years.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a Hollywood actor who is the middle of a mid-age crisis. He feels that his wife is no longer focusing on him. He loves his kids and he loves to see them grow up ,but then it is a huge responsibility for him and sometimes, he forgets his commitments and when he forgets, he gets frustrated. He is bored with the film projects he has as it is no longer interesting and the focus is not on him. He signs a 2 million dollar deal to be in a whiskey ad and lands up in Japan.

Charlotte(Scarlett Johansson) is the wife of a busy photographer(Giovanni Ribissi ) . They are in Japan for an important shoot. Her husband is out of town. She is trying her best to keep her busy. She has a degree in philosophy and is very worried about how her life is going. She doesn’t know what to do with her life. Reading self-help books or listening to self-help tapes doesn’t help either. It so happens that Charlotte and Bob are in the same hotel in Japan. They accidentally meet in a bar when they were trying to kill time.

Even though Bob is his 50s and Charlotte is in her 20s, they become friends initially in order to while away their time. But then, slowly they realize that they have many things in common: Both are going through a crisis in their life. Both are foreigners trapped in Japan. There are no friends, neighbours or relatives with whom they can talk to here. This friendship, even though it is strange with respect to age, seems to be very perfect and apt for them at this juncture. But then, this friendship changes their whole perspective of what life is .This is the story of “Lost in Translation” which is the sleeper hit of this season, directed by Sofia Coppola (daughter of Francis Ford Coppola who made “Godfather”).

Bill Murray, no doubt is a great comedy actor. He is amazing in “Groundhog Day”,”What about Bob” and “Ghostbusters”. But I never thought that he would be able to do a complex role like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets an Oscar nomination for this role. Check out the last scene when he acts just with his eyes. His eyes convey more than what he could have expressed in 1000 words... Scarlet has also done justice to her role of a Yale Grad who doesn’t know what to do with her life.

The ending is very interesting. In fact, the movie was well above my expectations…I expected that the film would focus more on the romantic angle between these two very different characters .Instead of that, it focused more on their friendship. I also expected that Bob would sleep with Charlotte at some point of time. But then, if he had done that, Charlotte would be just another woman in his life. He didn’t want to spoil their friendship. This friendship even though a bit strange, came at a very important point in his life and he respected it very much. But then, the film does not neglect the romantic angle totally. It comes to surface in the climax when Bob says goodbye to Charlotte.

One might ask what is special about the friendship they had. Even though it was initially out of loneliness, they realized that there is still hope in their life .I loved the ending when Bob whispers something in Charlotte’s ears. You don’t get to hear it. But from Charlotte’s reaction, we learn that it is something very sweet and special to her...Probably, he gave her his contact address, or email or phone number. Or he might have just said “I love you...And I would track you down soon”. There is a sense of mystery and poignancy in this scene which I loved.

The movie moves slowly. Some might say that it is boring, but then, the way events unfold is so interesting that the slow narration didn’t matter to me much. The music in this film is interesting in the sense that it is very apt for the situations in the film. It conveys the loneliness they feel in the first few scenes, the excitement when they are together and the sadness when Bob says goodbye to Charlotte.

Most of the humor focuses on how Bob and Charlotte struggle in Japan since they don’t understand the language. I feel it was a bit exaggerated…It is true that the Japanese don’t speak English too much. But then, in a foreign country, one can’t expect others to speak in English always. I feel that they should have been prepared for it. The movie, since it is slow in some places, might be boring to viewers. Made on a moderate budget, sometimes, you feel as if you are watching an art movie. That, I felt, could have been avoided. The karaoke scene when Bob and Charlotte sing their favorite songs was a bit lengthy and could have been trimmed.Also; some of the jokes were stereotyped. One example is when the call girl who comes to Bob’s room without his permission, asks him to “lip her stocking” when she actually wanted him to “rip her stockings”…it was funny, but stereotyped...

But,Overall,I think it is a great film…Don’t miss it!