Broken Flowers/Lost in Translation : DVD

bill murray double-bill. 'broken flowers' (2005) is a poised and off-beat comedy drama from writer-director jim jarmusch. don johnson (murray) has always avoided committment, but after he splits up from his latest girlfriend, sherry (julie delpy), he receives an anonymous letter claiming he has a son who is trying to look for him. don decides to analyse his past relationships with women instead of immediately moving on to the next one, a process that takes him on a cross-country search for his old girlfriends and the one who might have some idea about the mystery of his son. tilda swinton and sharon stone also star in cameo roles. 'lost in translation' (2003) is sofia coppola's poignant drama about americans abroad, starring 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 most of the time. 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.