Lost in Translation/Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [DVD]

Double-bill of independent drama. 'Lost in Translation' (2003) is director Sofia Coppola's poignant drama about Americans abroad, starring Bill Murray as Bob Harris, a movie actor well past his prime who is in Tokyo to shoot a whiskey commercial. Jet-lagged and disillusioned, Bob spends most of his free time in the hotel bar, where he meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). She is married to John (Giovanni Ribisi), a successful photographer in Tokyo on an assignment, who pays her scant attention, leaving her to her own devices. Both bored and lonely, Bob and Charlotte become friends, and form a strong and meaningful bond as they explore Tokyo together. The two share a dissatisfaction with their lives: Charlotte is intelligent enough to understand that her marriage is going nowhere, and Bob's relationship with his wife has become more like a business partnership (his wife communicates with him by Fed-Exing upholstery samples for his new study to the hotel) than a marriage. As their friendship develops, the fun and warmth they are getting from it serves to highlight the lack of affection in their marriages, and they both start to gain an insight into what really matters in their lives. In 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004), Jim Carrey stars as Joel, a shy oddball who is stunned to discover that his longterm girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet), with whom he has recently split up, has undergone an experimental psychiatric treatment to have her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Still in love with her, and frustrated at the thought that she has no memory of their times together, he elects to undergo the procedure himself, and contacts the company who have pioneered it. The team, led by Dr Howard Mierzwaik (Tom Wilkinson), hook Joel up their computer and begin the process. The film, the majority of which takes place inside Joel's mind, then follows each of his memories of Clementine back in time as the most recent ones are systematically erased. But Joel's subconscious struggles to hold on to the memories as they slip away, and one of the nurses, Mary (Kirsten Dunst), who has undergone the treatment herself, sees his distress and eventually decides to send Joel and Clementine their files so that they know what they have lost.