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When famous American actor Bob Harris takes a job advertising whiskey in Tokyo, he finds himself isolated, bored and miserable. Newlywed Charlotte is feeling much the same, as her husband works or sleeps every minute of their time in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte first spot each other in their hotel, both lost and lonely in a strange place.
Charlotte, played by Scarlet Johansson, has just arrived in Tokyo. Her new husband, a photographer played by Giovanni Ribisi, is on assignment, and she has dutifully accompanied him. Also recently arrived is Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray, an American actor cashing in on his past fame. He is getting paid two million dollars to star in a Whiskey advert. Both are strangers in a strange place, simply passing time before they can escape back to familiarity. And that time is not being made any easy for either of them by a complete inability to sleep. It is on a sleepless night, in the hotel bar, that the two first strike up conversation. Both are welcoming of some communication, and some company.
In what is very much a character focused film, so much depends on the actors performances. Both Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson put in fine performances in this subtly thought-provoking piece. Both characters are likable and intriguing. We can relate to them and their situation quickly, but the characters are deep and realistic. We get a brief insight into complex characters, rather than being presented with shallow, poorly filled out stereotypes. Importantly, both Johansson and Murray do an excellent job of making their relationship seem plausible. There is sufficient innocence that the characters never look in danger of falling lustfully into each others arms, but also it never looks like a father and daughter relationship, or worse, a dirty old man thing.
Bob and Charlotte begin to spend much of their spare time together, which for Bob is a lot of time, and for Charlotte, is pretty much all of her time. They make the most of the hotels facilities, as well as wandering the streets together. Bob even joins Charlotte for an all night party session, as they try to make the best of their stay in Tokyo.
This film seems to polarise those who see it. Those who dislike the film simply complain that "nothing actually happens". By its very nature, this film is very slow paced and perhaps even uneventful. There really is no main theme pushing us through the movie. It is simply on the interaction of the characters in each scene that we focus. This is to the films great credit. It would have been all too easy to surrender to the typical romantic pressures - two massively different strangers are thrown together by circumstance, strike up an unlikely friendship, before falling in love and into bed in no particular order. It could easily have descended into another tired Pretty Woman remake. However, the two characters ask for nothing but company from each other, and are simply grateful for the time they share together, in what would have been a depressing and lonely experience otherwise.
However, having said all this, there are still things that let this film down. The film is not especially well directed. Some of the scenes are a little strange and random, perhaps even confusing. It seems likely that it is Murray's influence that helps to make this movie work. There also seems to be a missed opportunity to do a little more with the cinematography. A little more beauty, in both scenery and style, might have eased the film along more comfortably.
All the things that make this film a unique and refreshing change from the rom-com norm are ironically the cause of this films greatest problem, at least from the studios point of view. They mean that the film does not have an obvious target audience. It is billed as a romantic comedy, but we have already established that it doesn't tick the standard romance boxes. It is also not exceptionally funny. There are some amusing moments, but nowhere near sufficient for it to be considered purely a comedy, thankfully. It is therefore not particularly surprising that it hasn't done very well, which is sadly not good motivation for studios to produce more quiet, understated pieces like this.
Mark: 7/10
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