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Love’s Labours Not Lost

Lost in Translationis a film at once sardonically funny and deeply melancholic. It is a series of moments frozen in time that suggest a pastiche lovingly put together by director Sofia Coppola (daughter of Francis Ford of The Godfather fame).Central to the film is the relationship between Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johannsen), two disillusioned souls who meet in a Tokyo hotel bar and ease their mutual insomnia by traversing night-time Japan together. He is a jaded actor, past his prime and shooting an absurd commercial for Suntori Whiskey, for which he despises himself. She is accompanying her semi-famous photographer husband and struggling with a growing sense of loneliness as his work begins to take precedence over her.Both leads are brilliantly acted. Murray gives a subdued and deeply-nuanced performance that is all the funnier for its not being forced. He portrays a man tired of pretence who is almost resigned to unhappiness. Johansson’s performance, though less notablyacclaimed, is wonderfully mature and lends her character a luminous wistfulness that underlines Charlotte’s inner fragility. There is a quiet assurance in the way this film goes about its work that is refreshingly subtle. The relationship between Bob and Charlotte is never forced, and one senses the growing bond between them as companionship alone prevents confusion and loneliness. There is much patience and beauty in the way the plot is allowed to
develop, through the use of sparse dialogue and shared glances. It is a film made up of snapshots: looks exchanged across the bar; Bob’s helplessly heartfelt (and off-key) crooning to Charlotte at a karaoke lounge; the final moment where he runs through a crowd and whispers something in her ear to which we are not privy.The film offers no quick fix romantic solution and never shies away from the problems of its characters. At one point Charlotte asks Bill if it all “gets any easier” and he answers with brutal honesty: no. They emerge at the end of it all with no real answers, but are happier nonethless.Despite its lugubrious undertones the film is very funny. It istrue that much of the humour plays on cultural differences but this is done without ever becoming too crude or crass.Lost in Translation is a film full of intrinsic humanity; it is sad, funny and moving, often simultaneously so. It is quietly confident, classy and brave, traits that it certainly shares with its director. Not one to miss.Archive: 0th week HT 2004

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