I watched this on the flight from India, on the 4th of December, 2023.
It’s a story about two people, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson (very young) staying in the same Tokyo hotel, and how their relationship develops. It’s an interesting movie! It’s very atmospheric, and the music was well chosen, but it did feel a little meandering and aimless, with perhaps a few too many long shots of nothing in particular, with piano music to make them seem like they were full of hidden meaning.
Plus the Japanese characterisation was a unbelievably uncomfortable, dear god, were movies really like that, please make it stop I hate it.
But I did like Murray’s characterisation and monologue on marriage and children. It reminded me of Aella’s essays on monogamy (not an endorsement of her views). Johansson’s character was a little underdeveloped, and there were a few too many shots of her lounging around with very little on, but they had a lovely friendship on screen.
Murray’s humour I particularly liked, all dry and sardonic, which made his earnestness and smile at the end, when they say goodbye to each other, all the more impactful.