X
- 2003
- R
- 1 h 42 m
- 2003
- R
- 1 h 42 m
Summary Unable to sleep, Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), two Americans in Tokyo, cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship. Charlotte and Bob venture through Tokyo, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life'...
Directed By: Sofia Coppola
Written By: Sofia Coppola
- 2003
- R
- 1 h 42 m
- 2003
- R
- 1 h 42 m
Lost in Translation
8.0
Where to Watch
Summary Unable to sleep, Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), two Americans in Tokyo, cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship. Charlotte and Bob venture through Tokyo, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life'...
Directed By: Sofia Coppola
Written By: Sofia Coppola
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 44 Critic Reviews
91
95% Positive
42 Reviews
42 Reviews
5% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 44 Critic Reviews
91
95% Positive
42 Reviews
42 Reviews
5% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sofia Coppola's second movie as a director is more than a breakthrough: it's an insouciant triumph. She conjures a terrifically funny, heartbreakingly sad and swooningly romantic movie from almost nowhere and just makes it look very easy - as well as very modern and very sexy. It is a funky little Brief Encounter for the new century.
Longer on atmosphere and observation than on story, but you don't mind: Coppola maintains her quietly charged tone with a certainty that would be unbelievable in a second film if you didn't suspect genetics had a hand.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 601 User Ratings
8.0
84% Positive
503 Ratings
503 Ratings
11% Mixed
65 Ratings
65 Ratings
5% Negative
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 601 User Ratings
8.0
84% Positive
503 Ratings
503 Ratings
11% Mixed
65 Ratings
65 Ratings
5% Negative
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
I had been well aware of this film's reputation as a masterpiece for some time, and when I finally saw it I was so glad I did. I have seen it three times now, it improves each time. Lost in Translation is a brilliant film, but also a film you need to see more than once to appreciate it.
Lost in Translation for example is a brilliantly written film. The script is wonderful, with a healthy balance of energetic humour and bittersweet soul-searching. The story, driven by its characters, is slowly-paced but purposefully so, any faster it would have detracted from any magic and poignancy and also would have made the title irrelevant. And I love the ambiguous but very meaningful ending. Lost in Translation manages to be both sad and funny, but it is also in its tone a magical and irresistibly moving film.
I can't say I am a fan of Sophia Coppola. I can say though Lost in Translation is her best written and best directed film, and probably the only one I would consider a masterpiece. And speaking of Coppola, she makes some risky but wise decisions such as the balance of the humour and the bittersweet poignancy and altogether it is a rock-solid directing job.
Lost in Translation looks absolutely beautiful too, with its skillful lighting, beguiling location work and stunning cinematography. The Japan-pop soundtrack creates a big emotional impact, and just adds to the authenticity Lost in Translation has.
The acting is marvellous. Bill Murray gives a delicate, restrained and masterful performance in the lead role, and from his performance here you would never guess he is the same Bill Murray who starred in broader films like GhostBusters. Scarlett Johanssen also gives one of her best performances as the younger woman trapped in a loveless marriage, not to mention she looks lovely here and shares a believable chemistry with Murray.
In conclusion, a masterpiece. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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There is something very sweet and charming about this, despite the fact that it deals with jaded showbiz people, marital problems, and infidelity, or at least the possibility of infidelity. It does not hurt that two wonderful actors occupy the lead roles - Murray with his dry humor and Johansson with her subtle emotions. Director Sofia Coppola also does a fine job of portraying Americans feeling a little bewildered in Japan, even though most of the film is confined to high end hotels, bars, and restaurants.
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This is one of the year's most subtly moving films, and a strong affirmation of Coppola's substantial talent.
The movie contains priceless slapstick from Bill Murray, finely tuned performances by Murray and the beautiful Scarlett Johansson and a visual and aural design that cultivates a romantic though melancholy mood.
A lovely, quietly thrilling thing.
By the time the film was half over, I was ready to catch the next flight to Japan. Until travel arrangements can be made, though, I'll just watch Lost in Translation again.
It can be funny, but the humor is too often based in stereotypical perceptions of Asians (they're short, they're laughably polite, they eat weird food), and Coppola shamelessly invites us to laugh along with Murray's character, who, believe it or not, thinks it's hilarious when his hosts get their "r"s and "l"s switched.
This movie was an accident. How a film with basically no plot, that was shot as an afterthought, and starring two actors with no prior dramatic roles, became one of the defining films of the modern era is beyond my ability to explain. Sofia Coppola has certainly tried and failed to reproduce anything like it in the last 20 years, despite revisiting the "existential crisis" theme over and over. Maybe less is more and simplicity is beauty. Maybe I just saw this at a time in my life where I really resonated with needing to be culturally lost in order to find yourself. Maybe I just really liked traveling to Tokyo. Whatever special sauce made this film good has itself been lost in translation. I just know that if this film is viewed through the lens of 2021, it would certainly not have had a fraction of the impact(I'm looking at you dated Engrish jokes).
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Masterclass in melancholic story-telling, but couldn’t quite shake the underlying autobiographical quality of its writer-director commodifying the tiresome woes of a privileged life. It’s beauty and downfall both lie in the fact that there are no true villains present, nor are there any heroes. At the end of the day life goes on and it becomes an intimate decision to smile over succumbing to a nihilistic viewpoint.
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Why is this film so praised? Our protagonists are a naive stuck-up girl right out of college and an equally stuck-up cynical actor. Neither show any real interest in Japanese culture (he's even quite disrespectful) and neither makes any really attempt to connect with the Japanese (even though they both get the chance to connect). Even though she seems to have a degree in philosophy and he seems to be somewhat of an intellectual type, their interactions remain mostly superficial. And still, their interaction with one another is pretty much everything we get to see for this entire film. I guess this film appeals to people just as pretentious and shallow as the main protagonist (which is the only reason I can think of to explain its popularity), but I personally found it hard to connect with either of them AT ALL.
Further, I wonder how much sense it makes for their relationship to have remained purely platonic. Both seem to be estranged from their respective spouses, his wife is on the other side of the ocean, her husband is on a photo shoot for several days, both act like they haven't had sex in a long time, she's a beautiful impressionable young girl, he's a famous actor, they both don't shun alcohol and at one point they become close enough to lie together on a bed while he touches her feet. Maybe it's just me, but I personally find it hard to believe they didn't end up having sex together considering the aforementioned conditions. Anyway, the shame and confusion arising from such a situation (after both realise they made a mistake cheating their respective spouse) would at least have made a far more interesting film to watch Maybe this film appeals to people who never spent more than a few days in a foreign country, but having spent about 3 months in Poland I couldn't see anything I haven't experienced myself AT A FAR GREATER INTENSITY. For me, this makes "Lost In Translation" as exciting to watch as two people sitting at a bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive. Actually the latter would probably be more interesting, because the bus doesn't take THAT long to arrive.
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Production Company
Focus Features,
Tohokushinsha Film Corporation (TFC),
American Zoetrope,
Elemental Films
Release Date Sep 12, 2003
Duration 1 h 42 m
Rating R
Tagline Everyone wants to be found.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 3 Wins & 5 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Gold Derby Awards
• 2 Wins & 9 Nominations
