One of my favorite movies. I also found it incredibly accurate, when I visited Japan.
No joke, I was out one night in Osaka and got a little drunk. On my walk back to my hotel, some woman popped out at me on a corner and asked, “You like massage?” in a very heavy accent.
I stayed in the Ritz-Carlton in Akasaka and the hotel welcoming process was quite something. Door guy handed me off to a very cute hostess who politely stood next to me and handed me off to the desk clerk. The desk clerk then handed me off to another dude to show me my room.
Yeah, I really liked the movie and it’s hard to describe exactly why.
It’s not an amazing story, or amazing characters, it’s not exciting…but it has a certain vibe/mood to it that I liked.
I was also a bit fascinated by Japan, so that’s part of it. Got to visit a couple of times in the years after seeing the movie and whenever I’ve been in a Tokyo hotel room it’s reminded me of the film!
A beautiful film – possibly my favorite. Well written, well shot, well acted, well directed. The relationship between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson is complex, to say the least, not sexualized, and unlike any I’ve seen in another film.
Characters are layered across the board. No one is perfect, and no one is trying to be.
The way Japan is presented also feels quite accurate – the first time I stumbled around Tokyo felt very similar in terms of atmosphere.
I watched this film right after I graduated from university where I studied philosophy.
It was beautiful and timely.
This movie always creeps me out.
53 yo Bill Murray and 17 yo Scarlett Johansson.
But I think this adds to the layers. They are both confused and lonely and unsure of what’s next, one at the beginning of her career and one near the end. They recognize a bit of themselves in each other and also their need for love and acceptance. The little bit of physical stuff between them comes across as awkward because they then realize that even they mistook their feelings briefly for sexual attraction but it was actually more existential than that. In a way this reveals them both a little more innocent and unsure of themselves, which ultimately made it endearing.
While a big age difference can be suggestive of predatory behavior, Bill’s character never came across that way. This is definitely an edge that Sofia Coppola skirted and I’m not sure if a male director could do it as deftly.
Yeah, and it’s an important point that it is not a sexual relationship. The nuance in that relationship is a key point of the film and it’s done wonderfully. It could have been very creepy, but it just isn’t, so I hope people don’t avoid watching it because of a false premise.
