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| Lost in Translation is no cliché. Sofia Coppola has written and made a film that lets us see a new way of understanding the struggle that comes with changes in life and the ways we move through them. She does it with gravity, but also with wonderful humor. |
Everyone wants to be found.
(2003) Film Review |
| This page was created on September 22, 2003
This page was last updated on
May 29, 2005
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum
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| CREDITS |
| Directed by Sofia Coppola
Screenplay by Sofia Coppola
Cast (in credits order)
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 #1
Richard Allen .... American Businessman #2
Giovanni Ribisi .... John
Yutaka Tadokoro .... Commercial Director
Jun Maki .... Suntory Client
Nao Asuka .... Premium Fantasy Woman
Tetsuro Naka .... Stills Photographer
Kanako Nakazato .... Make-Up Person
Fumihiro Hayashi .... Charlie
Hiroko Kawasaki .... Hiroko
Daikon .... Bambie
Anna Faris .... Kelly
Asuka Shimuzu .... Kelly's Translator
Ikuko Takahashi .... Ikebana Instructor
Koichi Tanaka .... Bartender, NY Bar
Hugo Codaro .... Aerobics Instructor
Akiko Monou .... P Chan
Produced by
Francis Ford Coppola .... executive producer
Sofia Coppola .... producer
Mitch Glazer .... associate producer
Callum Greene .... line producer
Kiyoshi Inoue .... associate producer
Ross Katz .... producer
Fred Roos .... executive producer
Stephen Schible .... co-producer
Original Music by Brian Reitzell and Kevin Shields
Cinematography by Lance Acord
Film Editing by Sarah Flack
MPAA: Rated R for some sexual content.
Runtime: Canada:105 min (Toronto International Film Festival) / USA:102 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG |
| TRAILERS AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers and Clips |
| CD |
Lost in Translation
Various Artists - Soundtrack - 2003
1. Intro/Tokyo
2. City Girl - Kevin Shields
3. Fantino - Sebastian Tellier
4. Tommib - Squarepusher
5. Girls - Death In Vegas
6. Goodbye - Kevin Shields
7. Too Young - Phoenix
8. Kaze Wo Atsumete - Happy End
9. On The Subway - Brian Reitzell & Roger J Manning Jr
10. Ikebana - Kevin Shields
11. Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine
12. Alone In Kyoto - Air
13. Shibuya - Brian Reitzell & Roger J Manning Jr
14. Are You Awake? - Kevin Shields
15. Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain
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| POSTER |
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Lost in Translation
27 in x 39 in
Double-sided poster, plain or
Framed | Mounted |
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| SYNOPSIS |
Bob Harris (Murray) and Charlotte (Johansson) are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young woman tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband (Ribisi). Unable to sleep, Bob and Charlotte cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon beomces a surprising friendship. Charlotte and Bob venture through Tokyo,
having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life's possibilities.
Shot entirely on location in Japan, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation is a valentine to the nature of close friendships and to the city of Tokyo. Ms. Coppola's film, from her original screenplay, contemplates the unexpected connections we make that might not last - yet stay with us forever.
Ms. Coppola studied Fine Art at California Institute of the Arts. She then wrote and directed the short film Lick the Star (which world-premiered at the Venice International Film Festival), followed by the feature The Virgin Suicides (which she adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, and which world-premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival). |
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Review by DARREL MANSON
Pastor, Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts. His reviews usually include independent and significantly important film. |
Bob is an aging actor unsure of what his future holds. Charlotte is a young wife of a trendy photographer, not long out of college (with a degree in philosophy), unsure of what her future holds. Both are in Tokyo with days without agendas. They don't know the language. They can't sleep. They're not coping well with issues in their marriages. They don't have a clue where they
are going in life.
 In a cliché movie, they would find consolation in each other by having an affair in which they would find a brief happiness before returning to the obligations of their lives. In some ways, this is true of Lost in Translation. However, Lost in Translation is no cliché. Sofia Coppola has written and made a film that lets
us see a new way of understanding the struggle that comes with changes in life and the ways we move through them. She does it with gravity, but also with wonderful humor.
The setting of Tokyo emphasizes the disorientation within their lives. The language is different. The customs are different. The signs are incomprehensible. There are people and lights everywhere, but for Bob and Charlotte, they are each alone within a mass of humanity.
 This mirrors their private lives as well. Charlotte has the degree and a marriage that should mark her as adult, but she still has no idea what she will do. She's tried writing, but doesn't seem to be very good at it. Her husband is busy with his work, but she has nothing that is her work.
Bob has had a successful film career, but now is reduced to making a whiskey commercial for a Japanese distiller and living off his fading fame. His wife is trying to keep things going at home, but he's paralyzed even picking out a carpet color for his study.
They are both at a cusp between two eras of their lives.
In the 1970s, Gail Sheehy wrote Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life. There has always been a lot of talk about mid-life crises, but Sheehy wrote about the crises that come throughout adult life -- in effect, the mid-life crises that happen in the 20's and 30's as well as the 40s and 50s. She likens these crises to the way a lobster grows through a series of shells, discarding them as they outgrow them and being vulnerable until a new shell develops. (Passages, p.20)
Bob and Charlotte, total strangers who find themselves trapped in Tokyo, are both at points where it is time for them to slough off their shells so they can grow into their new lives.
 They may not know what they have in common, but they are drawn to each other. The affair that encompasses them is not sexual, but certainly intimate as they both struggle through their vulnerable times of growth. They joke about Bob having a mid-life crisis, when in reality, they are both undergoing their own forms of such
a crisis.
As serious as this can seem, it is done with amazing humor, especially the scenes that highlight their disorientation: Bob seeing one of his old movies on TV, but can't even understand the dubbed dialogue; Bob trying to stop an exercise machine that keeps giving him directions in Japanese; taking Charlotte to the hospital for X-rays of her toe; going to a restaurant and not being able to tell the difference between the pictures on the menu.
The film is very well structured and balanced between the characters, moods, pacing. It is basically comedy (very good comedy), but has all the elements that make for tragedy. It all fits together so well that trying to talk about any one aspect leads you to talking about something else.
This is the kind of film that if it ends up on top of someone's Top Ten list for the year, you wouldn't argue, even if you saw something you liked better. It's worthy of whatever honors it may garner. I expect there will be many. |
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