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Scarlett Johansson is like a car. She can go from 17 to 25 in two years. In Ghost World, she effectively played a senior in high school. Here, in Lost in Translation, two years after Ghost World was released, she plays a woman who has been married for two years. Johansson plays that role like it was even more natural. As she has said before, she doesn’t take every role that she can; she doesn’t want to become Shannon Elizabeth or anyone like that. After her role here, we can expect her to become one of the more larger stars of now.
Charlotte (Johansson) is in Tokyo with her husband John (Giovanni Ribisi), who is a photographer who barely has time for her. He wouldn’t have noticed even if she hadn’t gone along with him to Japan. She is staying in the same hotel as Bob Harris (Bill Murray), a once-big movie star who is in Tokyo for a $2 million photo shoot for an ad for whiskey. Both suffering for jet lag and different stages of crises (Bob in midlife; Charlotte, quarterlife), they take to each other and become friends in their search for meaning in life.
It’s refreshing to see a movie that transcends the Woody Allen style of older man/younger woman relationships. Instead of the girl falling for the guy, they just become great friends, which is a whole lot more realistic. What helps with that relationship is obvious: the tenderness of the acting of both Murray and Johansson. They don’t portray people just looking for a one-night stand, they need someone stable for their relationship. Writer/director Sofia Coppola really knows what she wants, and gives it to Murray and Johansson, who run with it and really make it work.
What surprised me is how one scene could be so dramatic and sorrowful, and then jumping to a hilarious scene somewhere else. Often times, it doesn’t work, but Coppola decided to take a risk. That was one risk that was worth taking. Murray is his usual deadpan self, but with a better grasp that this is a drama with comedic overtones, not the other way around as his other movies are. He stands out as the leading man, and he’s what holds this movie together. Johansson, in my opinion, had the easier role. Her emotions were easier to convey and were more “out there”. She still excelled, though.
It’s movies like this that are hard to write reviews for. Instead of reading this review, why aren’t you out there seeing Lost in Translation?
Rated R for some sexual content.
Review Date: September 28, 2003