Lost In Translation

Bill Murray is a funny man. This is fact. The ability to be a comedic actor is usually dismissed: witness the Oscar generally snubbing comedy films. (The Golden Globes, for all their many faults, at least recognise the difference between dramas and comedies with their separate categories for film and acting.) Therefore, people tend to be dismissive of people known for comedy who try to be 'serious' when, in fact, it is as difficult, if not more so, to be able to act in both. Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Jim Carrey: they've all suffered because people won't accept them when they do something different, which says a lot about the narrow-mindedness of most people. Murray seems to have escaped this blinkered view, and so is able to choose the things he wants to do and be accepted for it. Which brings us to Lost in Translation.

Bill plays an actor, perhaps past his prime, taking the money for a Japanese whisky advert. However, being alone in Japan is worse than he thought, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. Scarlett Johansson plays the young wife of a trendy photographer who is in Japan for a shoot, leaving no time for his recently new bride. Alone in a strange country, she too is lost. The film shows how two lost souls can find each other, and save each other from themselves, in a beautiful, funny and haunting manner.

Sofia Coppola must have inherited something from her Dad, as this is a great film for her second outing behind the camera and typewriter. Perhaps drawing on her experiences of being round her father in the business, and being married (now separated) to the so-uncool-he's-hip Spike Jonze, she fashions an enchanting tale of two people who need each other, and connect on a deeper level, without having to resort to them actually consummating a love affair that neither of them require. It's all about words and looks and pauses, and laughs from being in Japan. (There have been some who have accused her of being racist in this context, which I think is totally incorrect. When somebody observes a different country from the position of an outsider, it can give them an interesting perspective, yet are somehow labelled a racist. We are allowed to berate white male Christians, but anything concerning race, gender or religion of other categories is immediately denounced as racism. This is ridiculous, in my opinion, and certainly towards somebody of intelligence whose Japanese friends are actually used in the film itself.)

Lost in Translation is a gentle but thoughtful tale of identity, self-purpose, life and love, and Bill Murray is simply fantastic in the role. And he gets to be both serious and funny in the same film - so where does that leave him? Comedian or Actor (with a capital A)? Personally, I don't care, as long as he keeps making good movies.

Rating: DAVE