Bill Murray is an actor that seems to do no wrong. Lost in Translation is a great showcase for his talent. The young Scarlett Johansson not only demonstrates great chemistry with Murray, but delivers one of her best performances in this Sofia Coppola film.
Lost in Translation is a great story about an unexpected relationship
Bob Harris (Murray) is in Japan to shoot a whiskey commercial and do some other promotional work. Charlotte (Johansson) is there with her husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) who is there for work. Charlotte and Bob end up finding an unexpected friendship as he is going through a midlife crisis and she is trying to figure out what to do with her life after recently graduating college.
Murray is delightfully charming and brings his sarcastic humor with a slightly more somber persona. The scene where he is filming the whiskey commercial really sets him up and he knocks out the comedic elements. The photoshoot that follows gives Murray more material to flex his comedic muscle and he never hesitates to bring the laughs. Yet, there is a maturity in this film that makes him even more relatable than some of his earlier performances.
Johansson really stood out in this film. Her performance is subtle and she conveys her feelings in every scene expertly. The relationship that forms between the two feels completely organic. Coppola shows a lot of restraint with the writing keeping their connection very tame. The film is slow with delivering the connection, but the performances carry the film until the two begin to connect.
Final thoughts…
Lost in Translation is a film that I’d slept on for a long time. It’s now a film I think I’ll revisit quite a bit. Murray and Johansson deliver a relatable story that Coppola wrote in such a way that never feels manufactured. Lost in Translation earns the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
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