Directed by Sofia Coppola

Lost in Translation is a film that you will either love or hate. Unfortunately for me, I fell into the latter category. It did make me realize however that I should probably avoid the ?arty? films and stick to the mainstream films. The other problem about this film was that my expectations were probably too high after hearing good reports about it and seeing the number of nominations it received at the recent Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Director etc). As a result, a film is usually bound to disappoint.

Lost in Translation revolves around two main characters. The first one is Bob Harris (Bill Murray) who is a famous American actor who has come to Tokyo to film an advertisement for a local whisky for $2 million. Easy money is hard to resist. The other is Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) who has followed her photographer workaholic husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) to Tokyo for a photo shoot. Both are ?lost Souls? and are not all that happy to be in their current location. The language and cultural barriers are quite extreme. Charlotte spends most of her days wandering the streets waiting for her husband to return from work. Bob spends his time with Japanese chaperones and at photographic sessions drinking ice tea masquerading as whisky.

Bob has left his wife Lydia of twenty-five years and children at home to make the ads. He is constantly being bombarded with mundane questions from home about carpet colour preferences and cabinet suggestions for his study. Charlotte is at a standstill in her life where after completing a Philosophy degree at Yale University she is really unsure of her next move and where her life is headed.

Bob and Charlotte meet in a hotel bar and start spending a lot of time with each other once John leaves Charlotte to pursue work commitments. Both find it difficult to sleep at night and so keep each other company and are basically inseparable for the remainder of Bob?s trip. They share sushi, talk about life and even indulge in singing karaoke at Charlotte?s friend?s house. A close and unlikely relationship has developed between two people that would probably have never met under any other conditions or in their own country. They actually managed to make the trip to Japan bearable for each other.

I don?t want to give away the ending, I will admit to shedding a tear but I will also admit to being very disappointed with what I felt was a lack of closure, in my eyes. I suppose I am used to a typical Hollywood ending and this film didn?t deliver one. Both my husband and I felt a little ripped off that we had sat through the entire life and not a lot had happened. I think we were at a loss as to what all the fuss was about. Still now I really can?t understand why they bothered even making the film. I know others that watch this film will think that I haven?t got a clue, it was a beautiful story with a beautiful ending.

The beauty of the human race though is that we are all different and all have different likes and dislikes. Overall, I generally disliked this film. You know the sort of film that ends and you think ?was that it??, well that is how I felt after Lost in Translation.

There were some great moments though. I can?t resist a Karaoke scene, watching people make fools of themselves (think of Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend?s Wedding), and I did enjoy the language barrier and how the characters dealt with that. I also enjoyed Bob?s appearance on a Japanese television show (Matthew?s Best Hit TV) with a ?Johnny Carson like host? and the difficulty the Japanese had with the English language. ?Rip my stockings? sounded too much like ?lick my stockings? for my liking. Most of the time I was just waiting for something to happen between Bob and Charlotte and hardly anything did.

Anna Faris plays a minor role as Kelly, an actress and friend of John?s, and I was also left wondering why they bothered with her role at all. The only reason I could think of was so there was another person to make fun of. She was blonde after all and sings Karaoke quite badly too which must be sacrilegious in Japan. She is your classic bimbo. Think Jessica Simpson and you have a good idea of her IQ level.

The casting was great though. It was lovely to see a leading lady breaking the ?Hollywood mould?, Scarlett Johansson was not made to look beautiful and appeared a little ?plumpish? in some scenes. I think I also detected a little cellulite (you go girl!) and let?s face it Bill Murray is certainly not everybody?s choice for a leading man. He is not remotely handsome and hasn?t really been seen in many serious roles in the past. He was a Ghostbuster after all. One question still lingers about Bill, Why hasn?t he had those acne scars removed yet? I must admit that I was shocked to learn that Scarlett was only 18.

The scenery and backdrops were brilliant though, just seeing how advanced technology is now in Japan was educational. The sights of Tokyo are pretty breathtaking too. What film set in Japan would be complete without the obligatory shot of Mount Fuji, not this one!!

Finally, I feel that this is a film that will only have a limited target audience. Most teenagers would be bored stupid, and many adults will wonder why Sofia Coppola bothered. Others might say the film is a masterpiece and that Sofia will one day emulate the feats of her father, Francis Ford Coppola. I know that after seeing Sofia?s second film, I won?t be rushing out to see her first, The Virgin Suicides, that is for sure.

Lost in Translation may be a film you may consider hiring to see what all the fuss it about, but please save your money and don?t purchase a copy.

Lost in Translation, it certainly lost me.

THE EXTRAS

Scene Selection is available as expected (24 scenes). This film has a lot of special features to view, which is always a bonus when you have to endure them for a movie that you didn?t particularly enjoy. Oh well, the extras include:

1) ?Lost? in Location ? A Behind the Scenes documentary (30 minutes) Sofia talks about how excited she is about Bill Murray arriving in Tokyo amongst other things. We get to see the ?Kick Off Party? and the filming of the movie from Day One. Bill is quite humorous at times but again proves that he should leave singing to the experts. You get to see many of the behind the scene faces responsible for the movie.
2) Matthew?s Best Hit TV (5 minutes) ? An extended version of probably one of the funniest scenes in the film. I learnt that this is actually a real television show in Japan while surfin? the net.
3) Kevin Shields? ?City Girl? music video clip ? Plenty of sights of Japan but a crap song.
4) Deleted Scenes ? There are five to view (10 minutes) but there is nothing too exciting. The scenes are briefly described below:
? More Aqua Aerobics ? woman jumping up and down in a swimming pool. Wow!
? Charlotte and the Robots ? Interesting Japanese technology to marvel at.
? Kelly?s Press Conference ? She talks about her movie and proves that yes she really is a bimbo. The longest deleted scene.
? Morning after Karaoke
? Bob in Hospital Waiting Room (The language barrier makes this a humorous scene)
5) A conversation with Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola (9 minutes) ? occurs on a rooftop somewhere in Rome. Bill is looking particularly old and grey. The duo talk about the film, the sets, the costumes and the make up and the fact that this film had a very low budget. As well as directing the film Sofia also wrote the screenplay (it won as Oscar). Isn?t she clever!!

CONCLUSION

Lost in Translation was a very disappointing film for me. The scenery was beautiful but the storyline was just too slow and well, boring!! The film revolves around a relationship that forms between a famous American actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray), who is in Tokyo to film a whisky commercial, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the young wife of John (Giovanni Ribisi), a workaholic photographer whom she has accompanied to Tokyo for his work commitments. Both are discontent being in their current location, suffering for a lack of sleep, but make the trip bearable for one another while forming a close bond in the process.

The film is Sofia Coppola?s second film and was shot on a fairly small budget. The hype surrounding the film and the Academy Award nominations made my expectations of this film quite high, which further added to the downer of wasting 100 odd minutes watching the film. If the film doesn?t send you to sleep then the hour of extras just might.

This film will probably have a limited target audience. Teenagers would be bored! Most men would be bored! I hope you find it satisfying!