Courtesy of Focus Features Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson star in Sofia Coppola's tale of love in a far off land. Some families get all the directorial talent.

Rating: 5.0

Hollywood loves to give audiences a dumbed-down and sped-up story that leaves them with predictable and syrupy endings.

The studio must have forgotten to butcher "Lost in Translation." Or maybe they thought it was foreign, since it's set in Tokyo, and left it alone. I don't really care what happened, I'm just glad that it did.

"Lost in Translation" is the best film of the year. It's a film that's smart and subtle when funny. A film that's tragic yet understated when it's sad.

Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, an aging movie star who has come to Tokyo for a week to do a series of promotions for Suntory Whiskey ("For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.") Ashamed of what he's become and working on a ridiculous commercial for $2 million, Bob goes through a midlife crisis. He has a wife and kids back in California, but he's partially detached himself from that life.

Scarlett Johannson plays Charlotte, a recent college graduate whose philosophy major hasn't given her any steady work. Her husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) is in Tokyo to photograph some rock stars and Charlotte tags along because she has nothing else to do. Like Bob, Scarlett doesn't have a firm grasp on where life is taking her. Her husband doesn't seem to need her and her friends don't seem interested in helping her find any answers.

Both are staying in a posh hotel in downtown Tokyo, where they spend most of their time in the bar or alone in their rooms, staring out the window or watching television they don't

understand.

Sofia Coppola, writer and director, splits time between the two characters, showing their loneliness in a city that doesn't provide the familiarity and friends that help repress fear when at a crossroads in life.

When Bob returns in full tuxedo after a shoot, he meets Charlotte in the bar. They chat briefly, and then again the next day. Since both have a goal to get out of the miserable city and funny stories to tell each other about experiences with the Japanese culture, they become friends. They spend a night with Charlotte's friends singing Karaoke, going to parties, and running from an angry bartender.

Life and how to live it becomes the subject of their talks for the next couple of days, as their friendship becomes an unstated love for one another.

Bob and Charlotte are similar creatures, three decades apart in age. But this isn't Anna Nicole Smith and some old rich guy.

Coppola doesn't illustrate their love with a scene of humping. The filmmaking shows their feelings are passionate yet delicate. The two are contending with time and the lives each must inevitably go back to.

Perhaps they'll look each other up back at home and leave their spouses. Perhaps they'll never see each other again. It doesn't matter, and Bob and Charlotte know that. The film ends without telling us what will happen to the pair. At the very least, they will always remember the week that they shared a perfect love.

Murray should get an Oscar nod for his portrayal of the sarcastic, melancholy Harris. Johannson is as charming and quirky as she was in "Ghost World." Coppola's directing is original and polished, despite this being only her second full-length feature ("The Virgin Suicides" was her first). The film is gorgeously shot, with a great contrast between the bright lights of Tokyo's downtown and the solemn monochrome of an empty hotel room.

Many things could have been changed to make this film happier or slapstick funny, but I am eternally grateful that nothing was touched.