Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It stars Bill Murray as aging actor Bob Harris, who befriends college graduate Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) in a Tokyo hotel. The film premiered on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival. It opened to the public in limited release on September 12, 2003, and entered wide release on October 3 of the same year. With a budget of $4 million, it is the less expensive Focus Feature film. The film earned $44.5 million in North America for a worldwide total of $119.7 million.

Plot
A lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial; Charlotte is accompanying her celebrity-photographer husband. Strangers in a foreign land, the two find escape, distraction and understanding amidst the bright Tokyo lights after a chance meeting in the quiet lull of the hotel bar. They form a bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The movie explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan as well as loneliness and culture shock in a city, which is a very creative concept.
 * 2) Much like The Virgin Suicides, it shows that Sofia Coppola did a amazing direction for this movie, the way it was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Director.
 * 3) Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson did a amazing job for portraying the performances of Bob and Charlotte. Even Fumihiro Hayashi, a Japanese actor is involved in this film.
 * 4) Bob and Charlotte have amazing chemistry that it is implied they share a one night stand.
 * 5) The screen-play is very well-written, perhaps it won at the Academy Awards.
 * 6) There's a hilarious running gag of Bob trying to stop when says "Help!" about treadmill.
 * 7) Even though it was R-rated, regardless the nudity is relentless as the scene is about a minute long.
 * 8) The soundtrack is a combination of shoegaze and dream pop genres of indie and alternative rock performed by talented artists such as Air, Death in Vegas, Squarepusher, Phoenix, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Bill Murray (who portrayed the main protagonist) with Roger J. Manning Jr. and Brian Reitzell, My Bloody Valentine, Kevin Shields, Happy End, Sébastien Tellier, Yellow Generation and Death in Vegas is the best selling point of this movie.
 * 9) The ending is really nice where both share a kiss and says goodbye.
 * 10) Lots of great lines, such as "The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born. Your life, as you know it is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life." and "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time."

Reception
Lost in Translation received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Coppola's direction and screenplay and Murray and Johansson's performances. It has a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.4/10 based on 228 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Effectively balancing humor and subtle pathos, Sofia Coppola crafts a moving, melancholy story that serves as a showcase for both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson". The film also holds a score of 89 out of 100 based on 43 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".

Trivia

 * The entire budget for the film was $4 million. It grossed $44.5 million in North America, and $119.7 million world wide.
 * Sofia Coppola wasn't sure if Bill Murray was actually going to show up for the film. Murray works without a management, and according to Coppola, he had only given her a verbal confirmation. While production was being set up in Tokyo with no sign of him, she started to get nervous, but was assured by Wes Anderson (who had directed Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums) that Murray was a man of his word. It was indeed when Murray landed in Tokyo one week before filming that his participation was ensured.
 * The film's Spanish title in South America, "Perdidos en Tokio", Chinese title "Mi Shi Dong Jing", and its Hebrew title in Israel, "Avudim be-Tokio", all mean "Lost in Tokyo", meaning that the titles themselves were literally lost in translation. The reason is probably that "Lost in Translation" sounds like a discussion on translation in other languages. The title got lost in translation in other versions as well: the title in Portuguese translates as "Love is a Strange Place"; the title in Polish translates as "In Between Words".
 * The opening shot of Scarlett Johansson is actually influenced by a painting by John Kacere, whose painting shows up later in the hotel. Johansson was reportedly nervous about appearing in her underpants, so to ease her down, Sofia Coppola did the first take herself while wearing the same underpants.
 * Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola's father, urged her to shoot the movie in High Definition Video because "it's the future", but she chose film because "film feels more romantic".

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