Sofia Coppola’s second feature after her suburban tragicomedy, ‘The Virgin Suicides’, became one of the best films of 2003, but I did not really watch it with much attention until now. Yes, this film is very good. It creeps behind initial impressions and delivers immensely after the whole affair is over. The film, like the Suntory whiskey Bob Harris (Bill Murray) grips while posing Mooreisms before a Japanese director, is a relaxing ride, but it has a strong after-kick. It didn’t always seem like it would be a good movie, as the elements were perhaps a bit too unwieldy. Despite the skeletal screenplay, the load weighed upon newcomer Scarlett Johansson, and the difficulty of parsing to audiences the minutiae of contemporary Tokyo while retaining the center of the drama on the two Americans, Coppola has done something remarkable.

The film is full of wit and charm, but it is not cute. One scene in particular with Anna Farris is chuckle-worthy, and we love her for being the ‘dumb-blonde’ anchor that keeps the movie humourous and (pun intended) airy. The romance between the two leads is something that happens abruptly, but it develops in a believable manner and, well, ends as well as you might hope. More on the last scene: it is definitely pretty, but it is not cheap. There is something about the exchange between Bob Harris’ muted words to his lover and confidant that rings true, if one can make such a claim. There are no gut-wrenching embraces, only the kind of communication between two knowing souls in different life-situations, both recognizing in the other the simplest of needs: a friendship.

So, there is no unrequited love per se; love abounds in this film. The cinematography does the Japanese locations a great service: from rendering the warm neon of Tokyo, to the serene beauty of an imperial garden in Kyoto, and for all the hotel corridors in between, the film looks spectacular. Once again tapping the likes of Air and other frequent collaborators, Coppola weaves a carefully considered score, though the music in the film is almost incidental, quite unlike her other features where the songs are key aural cues. Together with a fine indigenous supporting cast, and the movie plays like the montage of one person’s very lonely, but very rewarding summer vacation into the heart of the unknown with all its frequent delights, disappointments and non-life-changing epiphanies along the way.