Day 185: "Is that all he said? Because it seemed like there was a lot more."

As off-the-wall, unpredictable, undefinable movies go, Lost In Translation was pretty good.  The story of two uprooted Americans, lost (in multiple ways) in Tokyo.  Bob is an over the hill actor, seduced to Japan for two million dollars to appear in a whiskey advertisement, and Charlotte is the wife of a celebrity photographer, who is left to her own devices during his extended photo shoots.  The two, separated by the most uncomfortable of divides: age, find each other and embark on one of the most....odd relationships I've seen.  Bob, being twice Charlotte's age, can see what direction her marriage is taking.  Having been married twice, he tries to keep the relationship as innocent as it can be, while allowing a deep connection to be formed.  I had a hard time finding a label or genre to put this movie in, and that makes it that much more intriguing.  I really couldn't decide if I liked or disliked this film at first.  Just watching the film, I kept wanting something, ANYTHING, to happen.  As the story unfolded, I came to the realization that I was missing what was happening waiting for some unknown event to happen.  After that, I really liked it.

Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, and injects his own particular brand of humor to Bob's personality without getting completely wacky.  For lack of a better term, it's Bill Murray: refined, and I really liked it.  Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte with such subtlety and understated emotion, that it was wonderful to watch.  Tis is the type of role that the world needs to see her in, because she is great to watch.  Giovanni Ribisi plays Charlotte's harried husband, a man who has no idea of the jeopardy that his young marriage is in.

I arrived at the conclusion that this is a movie that people will either love or hate, a middle ground is a difficult place to land here.  I am on the side of the former.  An intriguing observation of two lost people finding each other and helping the other to discover what he/she could not find by themselves.  Give it a serious viewing, and you'll walk away with a new understanding of why people need each other.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!