A washed-up movie star named Bob Harris and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte, meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial; Charlotte is accompanying her celebrity-photographer husband. They meet and form a bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful.
Sofia Coppola's sophomore film (following the gently assured The Virgin Suicides) is another exploration of delicate relationships and uncommunicated frustrations, this one in a beautifully composed atmosphere of isolation.
A relationship picture with elegant connective tissue; it's brittle and real, focused on the nuances of body language and unspoken desire, while indulging in a cheeky bit of knowing absurdity when the mood strikes.
In Japan, the most extreme delicacy goes hand in hand with garishness, and Coppola offers up both for our delectation. It's a heady, hallucinatory combo.
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
December 25, 2010
Excellent but mature film about finding a connection.
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
June 24, 2006
So far as the central relationship goes, the film is almost European in its subtlety and nuance. Cinematic cherry blossom.
