What a truly extraordinary picture 2003's Lost in Translation really is. There are only a handful of movies that I seem to always be in the mood to watch again and this is one of them. When I first watched this film I wasn't a huge Bill Murray fan, I enjoyed Sophia Coppola's Virgin Suicides but wasn't delirious waiting for her next project and I can't say I had even heard of Scarlett Johansson. So I turned up to the theater with little more than a mild curiosity in the movie hoping for at least a pleasant 102 minutes of distraction. Maybe that's how we see all of the really important movies in life, showing up with bucket loads of expectation rarely gives us the return we desire (James Cameron's Aliens is one of the obvious exceptions to that rule).From the start this movie piques your interest with the exceptional soundtrack from Brian Reitzell, Kevin Shields and Roger Joseph Manning. The pace almost matches your breathing conveying the sense of jet lag being felt by the Americans who have just arrives in the disorientating megalopolis that is Tokyo.
Nothing about the film is rushed and no scene seems unnecessary. When the two leads of Murray and Johansson begin to interact the chemistry is obvious and the acting just doesn't look like acting. There are some movies when people are acting and you know it. Then there are those films when you have no idea people are acting because you are so engrossed in watching and listening. This is the latter and one of the finest examples.
There are some killer scenes in the movie, Murray enjoying some late night swimming in the top floor swimming pool at the Park Hyatt, a bizarre photo-shoot Suntory Whiskey, Johansson knocking at his door the morning after he has entertained a surprise guest, the reality-show feel of the Karaoke singing, the extraodinary bed conversation scene and of course, the final scene where Coppola allows us to guess what was said in whispers as the leads go their separate ways. Coppola actually wrote the lead role with Bill Murray in mind and that may well be one of the secrets to the natural performance she got from him.
Friends of mine visited Tokyo recently and had a drink at the bar where Murray and Johansson first meet in the film, needless to say I haven't been that envious for a very long time! By the way if you visit the bar at the Tokyo Park Hyatt they now offer a drink called L.I.T ... cashing in on the movie? Surely not!
If you have already seen this movie, see it again. If you have never got around to it then rent it now, it is truly a classic piece of filmmaking.
Rating: *****
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