Lost in Translation

Lost In Translation

"Lost In Translation" is one of those movies that seek to be something having something extra something that is more than a regular movie. Moreover, it does so effectively without being pretentious, all through the movie it does not seem like it is trying too hard to be something other than what is there. It is skillfully written, well directed and it boasts of a solid cast not very spectacular but full of good actors. Jointly, this eventually results in an enjoyable and interesting movie. The important thing is that it has a message to it. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play two individuals lost in the new and unfamiliar surroundings, restlessly moving around a Tokyo hotel in the middle of the night, who fall into talk about their marriages, their pleasure and the significance of it all. What occurs between them is very deep they open their hearts to one another letting the other know about the feelings and problems they are having with their marriages. In my view, these conversations can in fact only be held with strangers. We all need to talk about metaphysics, but those who are close to us want information and details; outsiders let us function more loosely on a cosmic scale.

Murray plays Bob Harris, an American movie star in Japan to make commercials for whiskey. His relationship with is wife is disjointed, they seem to be on a different wavelength, and they are sticking around because it is easier. A good example is when his wife asks over the phone." Do I need to worry about you, Bob?" "Only if you want to," he says. She sends him urgent faxes about fabric samples. Johansson plays Charlotte; whose husband John is a photographer on assignment in Tokyo. She visits a shrine and then calls a friend in America to say, "I didn't feel anything." Then she reveals: "I don't know who I married."

The movie could have degenerated into a love affair between two lost souls but "Lost in Translation" is too elegant and considerate to be the kind of movie where they go to bed and the viewer is supposed to believe that as a reaction against the problems that they have. They share something as private as their feelings rather than something as common as their bodies.

Murray is trapped, but reconciled to being stuck. Marriage is not uncomplicated for him, and his wife's voice over the phone seems to go on and