On my first flight across the Pacific, I was buzzed to discover that the perfect rex movie for my first time in Japan was available to watch!

That would be the SOFIA COPPOLA 1993 award- winning gem “Lost In Translation.”

For those that haven’t seen this minor masterpiece, it tells the tale of an aging and alienated actor undergoing a mid-life crisis (BILL MURRAY as Bob Harris) spending about a week at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo doing a lucrative, but stifling, gig promoting a Japanese whiskey.

He is mostly unable to sleep [Ed. Note- types rex at 3:30 am in Kyoto] and begins interacting with Charlotte, played by a young SCARLETT JOHANSSON (actually 17 during filming).

In the movie she is a 20 something newly married Yale graduate who is disillusioned with her marriage and who is mostly alone at the hotel. She had travelled with her emotionally oblivious husband. He is out and about in Tokyo (and elsewhere) working as a celebrity photographer.

It was exhilarating watching this yet again while flying into Tokyo.

I will say little more about the simmering tension that unfurls in this study of isolation, alienation and travelling (in Japan.) Just layer on that a soundtrack containing many rex faves and you know why this is a gwrex365 movie.

KEVIN SHIELDS of MY BLOODY VALENTINE 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 actually recorded 3 songs for this soundtrack. That alone makes it noteworthy. But it is the end of the movie selection that has my attention today. Bob whispers some inaudible words to Charlotte as he departs. No one know exactly what he said and neither actor has told and never will. You can look it up…

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/lost-in-translation-20-years-debating-ending-whisper/

I know I have posted this song before, but the movie ends with the most perfect selection- THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN track “Just Like Honey.” It captures the movie perfectly.

Here is a YouTube video of the song splicing in scenes from the movie (mini- spoiler alert) including when Bob whispers in Charlotte’s ear at the end.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sCnBt9qCB8c&list=RDsCnBt9qCB8c&start_radio=1&pp=ygUjSnVzdCBsaWtlIGhvbmV5IGxsc3QgaW4gdHJhbnNrYXRpb26gBwE%3D

SPOTIFY-

https://open.spotify.com/track/1LwP9g1Hjbs64jXM2Qsxry?si=d_0cwC6_T0eRDdMgQ10E_Q

(SONG 1642)

Play Loud Or Perish

3/30/2026 here, 3/29/2026 there