Sofia Coppola visited Tokyo and when she got back to her home, got depressed just like I did.
Starring Bill Murray and jailbait Scarlett Johansson (she was 17 at the time of filming), the film is an eclectic joyride of Tokyo (specifically Shinjuku and Omotesando) seen through the eyes of a naïve woman and a middle aged actor. The story is very, very, simple and straightforward: both characters are struggling with marriage in different ways and find plutonic kinship in being fish out of water.
Johansson shines here, and is in her best element when she gets to improvise against her co-star. She’d make a great comedian (e.g. Tina Fey or Larry David). Murray plays it up as himself actually, an actor that fell out of favor in his home country, but has to find work traveling abroad.
There’s a myriad of shots that drive emotions from a viewer (and personally touch nostalgic elements in myself), and iconic scenes that are part of pseudo culture: Suntory time, the lack of proper translators for Murray throughout (only actual translator was for a variety show), Kyoto‘s Nanzen-ji temple. But outside of the dialogue between Murray and Johansson, the other supporting characters are strawmen. Who would actually believe Anna Faris was an A-list international movie star even back in 2003? I mean Murray’s wife was only referenced through phonecalls, Johansson’s husband could have communicated the same way. We didn’t need him. Thus the remainder of the movie just feels like a well produced travel documentary. (I didn’t let my nostalgia blind me).
Good viewing nonetheless, and perfect coincidence to watch this on the 20th anniversary of release. A direct improvement on this format is Marriage Story.
Re-screened November 14, 2023 with special help. I also own the DVD.
