Copploa, Murray and Johansson's best work

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2011)

I recently had the opportunity to watch Lost in Translation for the first time in a number of years, and was happy to find the film is as good as I remember it to be.
Sofia Coppola's best work to date, as well as the two main actors, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett has been excellent in other roles in her still very young career, although hasn't quite found a movie that ranks with Lost in Translation. I was hoping this film would mark the start of a brilliant directorial career for Coppola, yet her volume of work has been on the low side over the past eight years. She's still not 40 (although just noticed she will be in a matter of days), so there's plenty of road ahead for her.
This is easily Murray's best and most complete role. He brings the glib and deadpan style that he's known for, but he successfully mutes the trademark smugness that serves him well in his comedic roles, but needed to be downplayed for the more delicate Lost in Translation. He pulls it be off marvelously. Credit to Murray, and no doubt Coppola, who picked Murray for a reason.
While the title directly refers to the foreign language and culture both face, it indirectly refers to both Murray and Johansson's characters, who are lost in translation in their own lives, struggling with spouses with whom they don't seem to connect. One wonders if their developing friendship will also be lost in translation, as the two are separated by time and the circumstances of their respective worlds.
The relationship between Murray and Johansson is handled well by Coppola, and that's key to the movie. Things never get unseemly as the movie never quite "goes there", but instead leaves us to wonder what's to be with these two.
A wonderful and tender film that holds up with multiple viewings.