Lost in Translation (2003)

Running Time: 105 minutes (approx)

Production Year: 2003

Rating: 15 Certificate

Production Country: USA/Japan

Filmed in Colour

Sofia Coppola's Oscar-winning second movie, released in 2006, is a masterclass in quiet, delightful comic romance. Movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) arrives in Tokyo to shoot a Suntory whisky commercial: a project that intensifies his self-loathing in a city that amplifies his alienation.

Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is staying at the same hotel while her photographer husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) abandons her for his latest assignment, shooting a hot new starlet. Staking out the hotel bar - a magnet for bored insomniacs - Bob and Charlotte meet, talk and begin to explore Tokyo together. With Harris's wife distant and Charlotte's husband inattentive, their relationship deepens...

The Virgin Suicides showed Coppola to be shrewd, character-driven filmmaker in the mould of her father. While her second movie also echoes daddy - he shot a Suntory whisky ad in the 70s - it contains enough depth to let her escape his shadow.

Murray, who has no agent, fields film offers via voicemail. Coppola besieged him, he relented and the result is one of his most affecting performances, giving Bob Harris an awkward nobility when he could so easily have been a dirty old man. While Charlotte's pampered lifestyle does not conjure instant sympathy, Johansson (in her breakthrough role) gives her strength and sharpness.

Small wonder she hit Woody Allen's radar, working for him in Match Point and then Scoop. Coppola took home an Oscar for her screenplay, the sole success from four nominations.

Highly recommended.

Cast

	Scarlett Johansson		Charlotte
	Bill Murray		Bob Harris
	Akiko Takeshita		Ms. Kawasaki
	Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe		Press Agent
	Kazuko Shibata		Press Agent
	Take		Press Agent
	Ryuichiro Baba		Concierge
	Akira Yamaguchi		Bellboy
	Catherine Lambert		Jazz Singer
	François du Bois		Sausalito Piano
	Tim Leffman		Sausalito Guitar
	Gregory Pekar		American Businessman
	Richard Allen		American Businessman
	Giovanni Ribisi		John
	Diamond Yukai		Commercial Director

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Comments

January 17th - 8:54amRuss Freeman said...
This movie was terrible. I nearly fell asleep. Sure it some mildly amusing scenes here and there but overall I couldn't help but wonder "what's this movie about". I still don't know.

Boring movie, way too long, overhyped.