I have it on dvd.Need to see it a few times,there's lots of subtle little bits that you miss first time.

Is Film Four going to be free permanately then?

I think film four is going to save me.
Ive got another 2 or 3 weeks to kill, and i cant think of a better way than watching films 12 hours a day

first time i've seen it. Love the MBV soundtracks and i have to go to Tokyo!

I rarely go to the cinemas here and too lazy to rent dvds. So this channel could introduce me to some good films that I've been missing out :)

Also, the ending is totally not a letdown. It's actually perfect.

(Although I realise this is another one of those points of division amongst everyone who's seen this film... not too long before someone comes in this thread and says it's awful because "nothing happens")

But for a film with such pretensions of subtlety, it isn't half ham-fisted sometimes. See: Bill Murray's whiskey commercial (yes, Japanese people are not like American people) and the vacuous blonde actress. It would be nice if directors credited the audience with some intelligence.

when bill murray firsts arrives in the taxi, with the female vocals going 'aaaaah'?

is probably the most overrated film ever. Bill Murray phones in the same performance from Rushmore, only LIT has none of the heart of that film.

I find it really hard to sympathise with a multi-millionaire actor and the wife of a famous photographer who has recently graduated from Harvard (or possibly Yale i can't remember).

Plus, I don’t meant to sound like a curmudgeon but Film 4 is gonna suck now its no longer Film Four. Firstly there are the adverts, which completely ruin the mood of films. Secondly, by looking at the listings for next week the change from Four to 4 also seems to mark a shift to the mainstream. Last week on Film Four Weekly they showed Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General, but with the channel starting and ending earlier I doubt they will be able to show more extreme and obscure films like this.

I like Scarlett Johansson. She looks identical to a girl I know, who actually has dark hair.

Which is interesting.

But I couldn't really get into it. It had its funny moments but I prefer films that have a plot (now I wait on someone to tell me off about saying that). It was a 6/10.

I missed the last 20 odd minutes. So maybe it got really good.

I loved that Japanese guy singing God Aaved the Queen, he was great!

I don't think you can criticise the film on the grounds that you don't identify personally with the Johanssen character. Her feelings of confusion as regards her 'role' in life are pretty universal and I would have thought most people of 'our age' would identify with that. Her actual status seems quite irrelevant.

I think the major problem with it is indeed the ham-fisted (and perhaps thoroughly 'American') manner in which the Japanese people are portrayed. Other than that, I think it's a simple and stylish piece of cinema. And to criticise it for not having a plot is very strange. I think it has a very strong plot. Simple, perhaps, but strong. And there's plenty of great films that eschew conventional story-telling...

Really its strengths lie in the strong characterisation and subtle performances from the leads, and I found them very effective and sensitive.

recently are making me want to watch it again.
i really enjoyed it when i saw it at the cinema, i got really involved in the storyline and left the cinema (it was about 2am) feeling emotionally deflated as it really resonated with me at the time.

also: wrightylew, i'm really glad you liked it, especially after you were slagging off the sort of people who said they liked it a few weeks ago ;o)

I agree mainly with theguywithnousername I think.

I enjoyed the film but there's a very clinical aspect to it. It doesn't help that I think Johanssen looks incredibly average so it's hard for me to see why she'd have any hold over Murray's character.

I also prefer dialogue in a film in general. Even films that have great moments of visuals for me are best with their dialogue sections (2001: A Space Odyssey is a prime example of this I think).

I would watch it again but as someone said, I kind of don't remember much about it except for him doing the advert and the ending.