Lost in Trans­la­ti­on

by Sofia Coppola
USA 2003, 105 min, E/d, from about 14

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) are two aimless Americans in Tokyo. Bob, an actor who is currently in the city filming a whiskey commercial, and Charlotte, a young, newly married woman who is accompanying her husband (Giovanni Ribisi), a busy photographer. During a sleepless night, Bob and Charlotte meet at the bar of a luxury hotel.

What begins as a chance encounter develops surprisingly quickly into an unusual friendship. Their joint forays through the foreign metropolis not only lead them into amusingly bizarre situations, but also open up unexpected perspectives and a surprising view of a life they had never known before.

«Lost in Translation» is the second work by the young director Sofia Coppola after the acclaimed debut «The Virgin Suicides». Barely 30 years old, the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now") wrote the screenplay herself, about insomnia and an unusual friendship, and shot the film on location in Tokyo - inspired by her own jet lag between the USA and Japan, where she had run her own fashion company for a while.

The film became a melancholic cult classic, not least because of the two main actors. 20-year-old Scarlett Johansson had already played a number of major roles ("The Horse Whisperer", "Ghost World"), but it was with "Lost Translation" that she became a star. Billy Murray, thirty years older than her, had already played in many successful films ("Groundhog Day", "Ghost Busters"), but it was with "Lost in Translation" that he became a cult classic - in "Zombieland" a few years later he played himself!

 

"Lost in Translation" is a moving homage to friendship, the city of Tokyo and the many fleeting encounters in life that are indelibly etched into our memories.

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