Lost in Translation (2003)

Director:

Sofia Coppola

Writer (WGA):

Sofia Coppola (written by)

Release Date:

3 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Everyone wants to be found.

Plot:

A movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected newlywed meet up as strangers in Tokyo, Japan and form an unlikely bond.

Plot Keywords:

Bittersweet | Isolation | Loneliness | Alienation | Lyrical

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 70 wins & 58 nominations

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 (as Francois du Bois)
Tim Leffman	...	Sausalito Guitar
Gregory Pekar	...	American Businessman #1
Richard Allen	...	American Businessman #2
Giovanni Ribisi	...	John
Diamond Yukai	...	Commercial Director (as Yutaka Tadokoro)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese | German | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL (re-rating) | Hungary:14 | Indonesia:Dewasa | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:(Banned) (uncut version) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:G (Québec) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:PG | Norway:A | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG (edited for re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Focus Features

Trivia:

Some dialogue was improvised, including Bill Murray's lines in the photo shoot and his conversation with Scarlett Johansson about his Shiatsu massage.

Goofs:

Continuity: Charlotte tells Lauren over the phone that she "even tried ikebana". Later in the film, Charlotte does ikebana at the hotel and certainly looks like she has never done it before.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ms. Kawasaki: Welcome to Tokyo.
Bob: Thank you very much.
Ms. Kawasaki: My name is Kawasaki. Nice to meet you.
Bob: I've heard of you. Thank you.

Movie Connections:

Features Dolce vita, La (1960)

Soundtrack:

Midnight at the Oasis

Lost Souls

It's been a long time since a movie has made me hurt the way this one did. Perhaps "hurt" isn't the right word. "Ache" is more like it. I could so completely identify with both characters.

Bob is a middle-aged actor caught in a life which has lost its zest and purpose, doing what he "ought" to be doing (making money doing whiskey commercials) instead of doing what he WANTS to do (plays). And then a young, beautiful, intelligent woman enters his orbit. On that level alone, with its mute longing and sexual tension, I can identify with him.

And then there is Charlotte, a student of philosophy seeking herself, her soul lost and adrift. She doesn't know who she is, doesn't know what she wants. Her life is a quest for authenticity of self. And I identify with her because so much of my life I have been seeking the same thing.

This movie isn't for everyone. They will call it boring, lifeless, limp. There are people, I realize, who have never experienced that kind of longing, who had never sought meaning in their lives, and searched for their own lost souls. They live for the here and now, without giving a thought to the spiritual aspects of life.

A friend said introverts will love this movie, extraverts will hate it. I think that is a fair surface assessment. This movie is all about the inner lives of two people whose souls connect for a brief time in an alien city. It is a love affair not of bodies, but of minds and spirits.

Some this movie will make angry. Some this movie will make weep.