Bob (Murray) is a movie star in Japan to make commercials for whiskey. He's a man who is both happy and sad with his life, while his wife's voice on the phone seems on autopilot. Charlotte (Johansson) is the wife of a photographer on assignment. She's only been married for a couple of years, but it's clear her husband thinks she's in the way. She's in her early 20s, Bob's in his 50s. They are both lonely people in a foreign country and it's easy to assume where their relationship is heading. But Sofia Coppola doesn't let them or us off so easily. This isn't a set up for a formula escapism romance. Despite the bleakness of their personal lives, this film is actually a clever comedy of manners where Tokyo deserves a star billing. Murray has received wide acclaim for his portrayal of Bob, an actor who has a sense of humour and can be funny, but finds it too much of a bother; a tired man doing commercials for money while hating himself for it. It is also a break-through role for Johannson (previously best known for Ghost World), who displays more depth to Charlotte than expected.

Secretary certainly is a different sort of movie. Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal) has recently been released from a mental institution, where she was placed due to her self-mutilating tendencies. She finds a job as a secretary for E. Edward Grey (Spader), a self-employed lawyer who likes his office very ordered. In fact, he is so obsessive he punishes Lee whenever she does anything wrong. Interestingly, Lee is not completely fazed (remember those self-mutilating tendencies I mentioned a couple of sentences ago) and a rather bizarre relationship develops. "Hang on a second, Brad...so what you're telling us is that this movie is a touching S&M love story??" Yup, that's exactly right.

The performances of the two leads are fantastic and the development of their story is told at a very appropriate pace. Humour is utilised extremely well, and you'll actually find yourself laughing at things you'd usually say you shouldn't. A different, and very good, movie.