Sofia Coppola’s sophomore effort is a one woman show despite being produced by her famous papa (director Francis of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now fame). How interesting that her father has been so involved in her film career that this young woman would helm not one but two movies that deal with the intimate details of being completely disconnected from your life.
Lost In Translation is the story of the relationship between nearly has-been movie actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and recent college grad Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). Harris is in Tokyo to do that thing that most American movie actors will do at least once in their careers, star in a commercial ad campaign, something they’d never dare do in the U.S. Charlotte is killing time while her photographer husband star-chases during his assignment to photograph an unnamed up-and-coming rock band for their album.
It’s clear from the outset that both of these characters feel disconnected from not only their surroundings, not an uncommon occurrence for westerners in a place as alien as Tokyo, but also from their own lives. There is something poetic about the way Coppola sketches the outlines of each character and then allows them to fill in the details of each other for the audience by way of their interactions. What is also clear is the love these characters feel for each other.
Not much happens in this film in terms of traditional plot, but, then, how much of life conforms to the rules of narrative? A bit slow in places, and there are a couple of continuity errors in this film (at one point Bob relates that he’s been married for 25 years yet through several other related details the audience is led to believe that his children are young enough for ballet recitals and like; this stretches plausibility more than a bit), but overall a satisfying, minimalist portrait of two people discovering not only the existence of a kindred soul but also themselves. For that…three out of five.
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