DVD review: Lost in Translation (From Barry And District News)

DVD review: Lost in Translation

Lost In Translation is actually a nice film. The ideal may seem a bit flowery - two mismatched people meeting and finding solace in each other's company. But it's really quite touching.

Starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, written and directed by Sofia Coppola, this is going to be a movie you either love or hate.

Murray plays Bob Harris, a tired old movie star travelling to the land of the rising sun to shoot a TV commercial. He's jet-lagged and worse than that, suffering a mid-life crisis.

Charlotte is a newly-ish wed twenty-something with a workaholic husband.

Enduring long nights of crippling insomnia and soul-searching bouts of loneliness, the pair meet in the hotel bar.

Charlotte is at a loss about what she should do with her life, and contemplating the early stages of her marriage. Bob is trying to hide from the recognition earned during the films made in his younger years, and looks as though he is nearing the end of his marriage.

The two of them enjoy their time together, and while the sexual tension grows between them there is a question of 'will they, won't they?'

Some critics have slammed this film as a waste of time, people with no real problems worrying over trivia. But without getting too moral about it, while a midlife crisis is not a plague of Biblical proportions, each person's dramas are important to them.

What is slightly disagreeable is the highly stereotypical portrayal of the Japanese.