Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play unhappy American tourists in Tokyo who meet through a series of brief encounters in a hotel bar.

Bob Harris (Murray) is a well-known US actor cajoled by his agent into starring in a lucrative whisky commercial geared for the Japanese market. Charlotte (Johansson) meanwhile, is a young wife who has come out to Tokyo with her fashion photographer husband (Ribisi).

She assumes they will get some time together to see the sights but her husband spends his days out on time-consuming photo assignments leaving her with considerable amounts of time in her own company either in her hotel room, around the hotel or on occasional adventurous days out.

Bob and Charlotte largely meet out of loneliness. As in Insomnia, Tokyo is portrayed by Coppola as a city that never sleeps - Bob and Charlotte are often in their hotel indulging in some hilarious bedroom distraction and unable to get shuteye. Even the hotel bar, with the soulless attraction of a mediocre cabaret artist, still becomes a magnet for them.

What makes Lost in Translation a particularly attractive prospect is the way in which Coppola has found a delicious vein in unforced moments of humour. She points out Japanese customs which to an untrained Westerner's eye are bound to seem pleasantly eccentric from the very first moments in the film, when Harris on arrival is confronted by a friendly group of Japanese PRs, each of whom presents him with a different sized gift.

Murray is on sure ground, as an actor, the role of jaded well-known actor Harris suits his deadpan approach well because he can show what he is thinking often through an expression. Newcomer Johansson also is a highlight, providing a beacon of attraction that makes the blossoming unexpected romance between the two of them, a joy to watch.

Also interesting are the cameos. Ribisi is perfectly believable as a workaholic photographer and Faris also does well as a self-obsessed young US actress in town to promote a film. Charlotte's disdain of this egotistical egghead who doesn't realise how obnoxious she is being, is also a pleasure.

To some, Lost in Translation may seem like a meandering comedy that pokes fun at aspects of Japanese culture but the comedy here is nicely observed and Japanese culture used more to reflect on the characters observing it.

In the end you feel the leading characters Bob and Charlotte begin slightly bewildered by the world they have been asked to inhabit, but five days later, feel humbled and rewarded by the experience. Lost in Translation is one of those films that stays in the mind, long after you've seen it.