LOST IN TRANSLATION

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: nudity, implied adultery

Rated:

While this film received raving reviews from most of the critics, I admit I'm at a loss to see why. There is no strong plot, not much conviction, not even a satisfactory conclusion. Instead we're treated to a wandering of two souls in a foreign country who somehow find one another and become friends. In that sense I suppose it's worthwhile, but exciting it is not.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a has-been actor famed for his daring-do in '80's spy thrillers. Feeling bored with his marriage and desiring to get away from his wife and children for awhile, he accepts a commercial job in Tokyo selling fine spirits. Forced to contend with a translator, baffled by the intricacies of the Japanese language, and holding a lackluster view of life in general, Bob manages to drag himself through the work. Also in the city -- and the same hotel -- is a young married couple. John (Giovanni Ribisi) is a workaholic photographer, and his wife Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) has come with him overseas in order to keep tabs on him. Thinking it would be a romantic interlude, Charlotte is disappointed when he spends most of his time at work, leaving her to an empty hotel room. She takes long walks through the city, visits local sights, and finally stumbles across Bob one evening in the hotel restaurant.

The two become unlikely friends and help one another realize that life is worth living if only for the people in it. This seems to be the bottom line for Lost in Translation. That life is hard, and you have to work at it. The characters are interesting, but the storyline drags. There's a lot of no dialogue passages of one or another doing everyday things. This is to show us how mundane their lives are, but gets old very fast. The script seems pretty lost as well, but there are some fun scenes and jokes to spruce up the plot. It's too bad there weren't more of them! Overall the movie won't appeal to lovers of swift moving plots, nor romantics. There's more friendship than attraction between Bob and Charlotte, which is relieving since both wear wedding rings. Charlotte's husband is gone all the time, and his friends "bore" her with their trivial conversations. Bob's wife is a voice over the phone nitpicking on small details, but we never figure out who's at fault in their shaky relationship.

I would be interested in knowing the director's reasons for involving a brief scene in a strip bar, since otherwise this movie is PG-fare. There are no f-words, hardly any mild profanities, and only a couple of abuses of Christ's name. Bob agrees to meet Charlotte and her husband at a bar, but apparently they were directed to the wrong place and wind up in a strip club, where scantily-clad women (one of them is wearing only a thong and tights) are doing gymnastic maneuvers. It has no point and is gratuitous... the same goes for all the scenes of Charlotte walking around in a t-shirt and panties. In fact, the opening scene is her backside in sheer underwear as she reclines on the bed. Charlotte and Bob's relationship never turns adulterous, but they do share a parting kiss. They also watch television together in his room, and fall asleep on the same bed. Bob wakes up one morning to find a lounge singer in his room, implying they got drunk and slept together. A Japanese woman also comes into his room, bares her leg, and asks him to "rip" her nylons. When he finally makes a halfhearted attempt she starts squealing and begging for him to "let go" of her, while trying to drag him to the floor. I know many people who love this film, but it didn't appeal to me.