I can tell it's getting to the Holiday season because I'm getting all mushy inside. The weather is chilly, and we all just want to snuggle up under a blanket with some snacks and watch a great movie, right?
Well if you want to relax in front of one of the best movies of all time, you'll need to do it quickly. Lost in Translation, the superb 2002 comedy from Sofia Coppola starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson is leaving Netflix on the 1st of January. This is one of my all-time favourites so please don't make me sad and miss out on the opportunity.
So what's it about? All kinds of things, love, opportunity, loneliness, existential dread. A better question would be, what's the story? Allow me to explain. Bill Murray plays Bob, a Hollywood star enjoying a mid-life crisis, he's in Tokyo to film a bunch of seemingly unintelligible commercials for a whiskey he can barely pronounce. Feeling incompatible with Tokyo and unable to sleep, he spends his free time moping on his marital troubles and parading through the hotel looking for something to do. It's here he meets the young newlywed Charlotte (Johansson) who's also struggling to find a connection while her husband is away.
Given their age difference and the fact that both are married, it's never going to work between our two leads, but that's what makes it so fascinating. These are two people who would never connect normally, but because of a shared language, become each other's anchors in a unique situation.
Part romance and part comedy (Murray's attempt at exercising remains hilarious) but entirely hypnotic right from that famous first shot, there's a melancholy throughout the entire movie that I just find absolutely fascinating. Do they really love each other or are they just holding on to the only thing recognizable in this completely different society?
If you've ever been on vacation, then this movie will resonate with you, if you've ever thought 'What if?' when passing someone in the corridor and missed your opportunity, then this movie is for you. That's pretty much everyone, right? With a 95% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, this is a movie you can feel comfortable taking a chance on.
Fancy another brilliant movie on Netflix? Why not check out the recently added Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore 2023 gem?
