Tagline: Everybody wants to be found.
Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable traveling companions. Charlotte is looking for “her place in life,” and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they?
Sofia Coppola’s second feature-length film focuses on two guests at a Tokyo hotel–Bob (Bill Murray), a middle-aged actor in town to film whiskey commercials, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the young wife of a trendy photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) who is always out on a shoot.
When Bob isn’t on the job taking fragmented direction from the Japanese crew, he’s receiving faxes on home decorating from his emotionally distant wife. And while her husband is away, Charlotte spends most of her time trying to motivate herself to do more than look out the window at Tokyo’s urban sprawl. So when the two meet in the hotel bar, they strike up an unusual friendship, one that provides a welcome escape from their boredom and loneliness.
With Lost in Translation, Coppola cements her reputation as a thoughtful and inventive filmmaker. Every element of the movie is pitch-perfect, from the dreamy, atmospheric score to the expertly timed editing to the lingering shots of the characters and the city.
Most importantly, Coppola’s minimalist script allows Murray and Johansson to give astonishingly moving yet subtle performances as people who are lost in the limbo of a foreign country, but find each other for comfort and companionship. Both heartbreakingly sad and hilariously funny, Coppola’s Lost in Translation is that rare movie in which everything is in its right place.
Read the Full Production Notes
Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Anna Faris, Giovanni Ribisi, Catherine Lambert, François du Bois, Kazuko Shibata
Screenplay by: Sofia Coppola
Production Design by: K.K. Barrett, Anne Ross
Cinematography by: Lance Acord
Film Editing by: Sarah Flack
Costume Design by: Nancy Steiner
Set Decoration by: Towako Kuwashima, Tomomi Nishio
Music by: Kevin Shields
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content.
Studio: Focus Features
Release Date: October 3, 2003
