Lost in Translation (2003) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 41 titles created 22 Aug 2012 a list of 31 titles created 13 Oct 2014 a list of 39 titles created 24 Aug 2015 a list of 40 titles created 11 months ago a list of 33 titles created 9 months ago Title: Lost in Translation (2003) 7.8/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Oscar. Another 93 wins & 118 nominations.

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Director: Wes Anderson Edit Storyline Middle-aged American movie star Bob Harris is in Tokyo to film a personal endorsement Suntory whiskey ad solely for the Japanese market. He is past his movie star prime, but his name and image still have enough cachet for him to have gotten this lucrative $2 million job. He has an unsatisfying home life where his wife Lydia follows him wherever he goes - in the form of messages and faxes - for him to deal with the minutiae of their everyday lives, while she stays at home to look after their kids. Staying at the same upscale hotel is fellow American, twenty-something recent Yale Philosophy graduate Charlotte, her husband John, an entertainment still photographer, who is on assignment in Japan. As such, she is largely left to her own devices in the city, especially when his job takes him out of Tokyo. Both Bob and Charlotte are feeling lost by their current situations, which are not helped by the cultural barriers they feel in Tokyo, those cultural barriers extending far beyond just not... Written by Huggo Everyone wants to be found.

See more » Genres: Rated R for some sexual content | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 3 October 2003 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Perdidos en Tokio See more » Filming Locations: $925,087 (USA) (12 September 2003) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia Bob is asked to channel Roger Moore for his photo shoot. Later, we see a karaoke performance of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme to one of Moore's own Bond movies, The Spy Who Loved Me. See more » Goofs When Bob lies alone near the beginning of the movie (just before he gets a fax), the clock reads 4:20 in a close-up shot. At the end of the following long-distance shot, the clock is blurry, but clearly changes (probably to 4:21). In the following shots, it's back to 4:20. See more » Quotes 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.

See more » Crazy Credits At the end of the closing credits, Hiromix ( Hiromi Toshikawa ), seen throughout most of the party sequence, waves to the camera. See more » Connections This FAQ is empty. Add the first question. User Reviews Filmed in Tokyo, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, one of the better movies I've seen in a while. 7 February 2004 | by TxMike (Houston, Tx, USA, Earth) – See all my reviews For anyone who wants a synopsis of this movie, the critics Ebert and Berardinelli have excellent, complete reviews of 'Lost in Translation', and they both give it their highest ratings. My wife and I saw it tonight on DVD, with DTS 5.1 sound and both think it is a remarkable movie. I like Bill Murray in just about everything, and this will go down as one of his strongest performances, as Bob, the actor in Japan for a week doing whisky commercials. Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte, the young wife virtually abandoned in the city to do her own thing as her photographer husband (Ribisi) goes to various locations for shoots. What I liked most was the realistic feel.

Being in a strange city, with unusual customs and a language you have no hope of understanding. Meeting someone who because of circumstances (age, marital status) will only ever be a friend. Being able to talk freely. Reflecting on where we've been and where we might be going. Many of the negative comments about this movie relate to an impression that it is 'boring.' I'll put on my 'maturity hat' and state that anyone who thinks 'Lost In Translation' is boring simply was not able, at least while they watched it, appreciate the inner beauty of this movie. The scene that made the whole story come together for me was when they were in one of their hotel rooms (doesn't matter which), overhead shot, they were in bed talking, fully clothed, he is on his back staring at the ceiling, she is on her side, eyes probably closed, the tips of her feet barely touching the side of his leg, and he moves his hand and puts it on her feet. Then the scene fades to black. It is the kind of tender, non-sexual touch that tells us how close they have become, and that theirs is a relationship of mutual trust and admiration, not one of lust.

People like Bob and Charlotte really exist, and they really do meet up in very similar situations. After a week, they must go their separate ways, he to his family and activities of his kids, she to wait for her husband and figure out how to get out of the rut. We sense that he does not love her they way she needs, and we wonder what will happen. 259 of 358 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Super Reviewer ½ Had to rewatch this as I've now been to Japan and seen it for myself. It makes the film much more believable and touches me in a different way now, a whole new experience as I can relate to the story and the surroundings. The thing that struck me is how accurate the film is, I know exactly how the main characters feel (mainly Johansson) in and amongst the huge sprawling, towering, crowded metropolis that is Tokyo. The strange feeling of being alone around hundreds and not being able to communicate, not really being noticed, it is a perfect visual picture of feeling isolated or living in a strange solitary state.

Coppola captures the small niches of the country and its people, how they live, eat and relax etc...its a very different world believe me and you can see this in Coppola's direction and use of locations. Of course the performances by Murray and Johansson are brilliant, just right, understated and subtle. Murray starts off in his familiar dry satire type way but evolves into a much deeper person, finishing on a very emotional finale that does put a lump in your throat. And not forgetting Faris as the superstar airhead, very good (and accurate) portrayal there, loved it. The atmosphere and visuals of the film are glorious of course, being filmed entirely in Tokyo and a little in Kyoto. It all looks so familiar now, makes me wanna go back. Much of the film was actually filmed live too, in front of hundreds of Japanese people who had no clue they were making a film! again that's impressive believe me. It also shows how different the Japanese are, no one batted an eyelid to the filming, they saw it as normal or uninteresting and no one recognised Bill Murray. Not a clue who he was and they didn't much care either, anywhere else and people would crowd around making a huge scene.

The plot is loose and pretty dull in places I admit, if you have no interest in Japan then you won't like this methinks. I believe a little interest in the country/culture helps here. But essentially its just the two main characters chatting, eating, meeting and going about their daily routines in Tokyo. Over time they fall in love but can't seem to reach out and express this to each other. They both have family/relationship situations which hold them back and make things difficult, its actually quite a realistic little story. Wandering around Tokyo lost a daze of neon lights and bizarre cultural differences. Murray is good with his little work/business sequences (dotted throughout) which offer some comedy, whilst Johansson does more discovering with a segment in Kyoto. A great couple of scenes with Faris offer more laughs when she promotes a Western action flick her character stars in. And a glorious small dinner sequence with Johansson, Faris and the underrated Giovanni Ribisi which involves much awkward small talk and slobbering as Faris and Ribisi's characters flirt. Can't not mention the touching, soft, emotional almost spiritual soundtrack throughout. Absolutely gorgeous choices of music which compliment the individual sequences beautifully.

As said the ending is a real tear jerker which you don't think will get you but it actually does. The track by 'The Jesus and Mary Chain' is playing as Murray's character leaves Johansson behind, gotta say this choked me up as its a lovely scene and really makes you care for the characters. A classic underrated love tale that manages to grab you when you think your above it. A surprise hit for me plus a wonderful memory of a beautiful country. Phil Hubbs Super Reviewer A beautiful, subtle journey detailing two lonely people's lives and the chance meeting they encounter with one another in Japan. Richly detailed in culture, this is a moving film that shows two Americans mumbling their way through a city they first both hate, but come to love just for the sake of being with each other. Murray shows a different, lighter side that we haven't seen from him before, and Johansson is just as stunning as a distressed woman looking for companionship once her husband proves to be a consistent no-show in her life. This is a very touching film, with a quiet score to complement the two wonderfully restrained performances by Murray and Johannson. The ending is heartbreaking especially, I don't think it will ever leave me.

Not everyone's cup of tea to be sure, but definitely a work of art. Dan Schultz Lost in Translation Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert Tweet Bill Murray's acting in Sofia Coppola 's "Lost in Translation" is surely one of the most exquisitely controlled performances in recent movies. Without it, the film could be unwatchable. With it, I can't take my eyes away. Not for a second, not for a frame, does his focus relax, and yet it seems effortless. It's sometimes said of an actor that we can't see him acting. I can't even see him not acting. He seems to be existing, merely existing, in the situation created for him by Sofia Coppola. Advertisement Is he "playing himself"? I've known Murray since his days at Second City. He married the sister of a girl I was dating. We were never friends, I have no personal insights, but I can fairly say I saw how he behaved in small informal groups of friends, and it wasn't like Bob Harris, his character in the movie. Yes, he likes to remain low key. Yes, dryness and understatement come naturally to him.

Sharing a stage at Second City with John Belushi , he was a glider in contrast to the kamikaze pilot. He isn't a one-note actor. He does anger, fear, love, whatever, and broad comedy. But what he does in "Lost in Translation" shows as much of a reach as if he were playing Henry Higgins. He allows the film to be as great as Coppola dreamed of it, in the way she intended, and few directors are so fortunate. She has one objective: She wants to show two people lonely in vast foreign Tokyo and coming to the mutual realization that their lives are stuck. Perhaps what they're looking for is the same thing I've heard we seek in marriage: A witness. Coppola wants to get that note right. There isn't a viewer who doesn't expect Bob Harris and Charlotte ( Scarlett Johansson ) to end up in love, or having sex, or whatever. We've met Charlotte's husband John ( Giovanni Ribisi ). We expect him to return unexpectedly from his photo shoot and surprise them together. These expectations have been sculpted, one chip of Hollywood's chisel after another, in tens of thousands of films. The last thing we expect is… what would probably actually happen.

They share loneliness. One of the strengths of Coppola's screenplay is that her people and everything they do are believable. Unlike the characters in most movies, they don't quickly sense they belong together, and they don't immediately want to be together. Coppola keeps them apart for a noticeably long time. They don't know they're the Girl and the Boy. They don't have a Meet Cute. We grow to know them separately. Advertisement We understand Charlotte loves her husband, and we understand how he wounds her, and why she cries on the phone. There's no possibility he will cheat on her with the Other Woman, the ditzy "star" Kelly, played by Anna Faris . John is simply a moth fluttering around her fame. That's what hurts Charlotte; he leaves her alone in the hotel for silly reasons that betray him as callow. We understand that Bob loves his wife and especially his children at home in America, but after years and years he knows and says that marriage and children are "hard." So they are. We know that. Few movie characters know it in the sense he means. After they start talking, Johansson is instinctive in striking the right note of tentative friendliness.

She knows Bob is a star, but doesn't care. Earlier their eyes met in the kind of telepathic sympathy strangers share when they know they're thinking the same thing about something happening in a room. Now they can't sleep and it's in the middle of the night in a hotel bar. She isn't flirting, and she isn't not flirting. He isn't flirting. He's composed and detached. He doesn't give away one hint of emotion. Without making it a big deal, he's almost studiously proper, as if making it clear he's not coming on to her. Of course he finds her attractive. He did when he saw her in the elevator and she didn't notice him. Or are we simply assuming he'd feel the same way we'd feel? Maybe he noticed her because they were the two tallest people in the elevator. I can't tell you how many people have told me that just don't get "Lost in Translation." They want to know what it's about. They complain "nothing happens." They've been trained by movies that tell them where to look and what to feel, in stories that have a beginning, a middle and an end. "Lost in Translation" offers an experience in the exercise of empathy.

The characters empathize with each other (that's what it's about), and we can empathize with them going through that process. It's not a question of reading our own emotions into Murray's blank slate. The slate isn't blank. It's on hold. He doesn't choose to wear his heart on his sleeve for Charlotte, and he doesn't choose to make a move. But he is very lonely and not without sympathy for her. She would plausibly have sex with him, casually, to be "nice," and because she's mad at her husband and it might be fun. But she doesn't know as he does that if you cheat it shouldn't be with someone it would make a difference to. Advertisement There is wonderful comedy in the film, involving the ad agency's photo shoot for the Suntory Scotch commercial and Bob's guest shot on the "Japanese Johnny Carson." But Coppola remains firmly grounded in reality. The Japanese director seems to be spouting hysterical nonsense until you find a translation online and understand what he's saying and why. He's not without humor. The translator seems to be simplifying, but now we understand what she's doing. There's nothing implausible about the scene.

Anyone who watches Japanese TV, even via YouTube, knows the TV show is straight from life. Notice the microscopic look Murray gives the camera to signal "just kidding." What is lost in translation? John understands nothing of what Charlotte says or feels, nor does he understand how he's behaving. (Ribisi's acting in the scene where he rushes out saying he loves her is remorselessly exact). Bob's wife and assistant don't understand how desperately indifferent he is to the carpet samples. And so on. What does get translated, finally, is what Bob and Charlotte are really thinking. The whole movie is about that act of translation taking place. The cinematography by Lance Acord and editing by Sarah Flack make no attempt to underline points or nudge us. It permits us to regard. It is content to allow a moment to complete itself. Acord often frames Charlotte in a big window with Tokyo remotely below. She feels young, alone and exposed. He often shows Bob inscrutably looking straight ahead (not at the camera; not at anything). He feels older, tired, patient, not exposed because he has a surer sense of who he is. That's what I read into the shots. What do you get?

When he brings them together they are still apart, and there is more truth in a little finger touching the side of a foot than a sex scene. Advertisement Catherine Lambert, who plays the singer in the hotel bar, is every pretty good lounge act in the world. It's more or less a foregone conclusion that they will sleep with one another. In won't mean anything to either one of them. When Charlotte discovers the singer is in Bob's room, she's startled but not angry or heartbroken. Sex wasn't what she and Bob were about, and he made that clear. When they meet next, they step carefully around that glitch and resume their deeper communication. So much has been written about those few words at the end that Bob whispers into Charlottes' ear. We can't hear them. They seem meaningful for both of them. Coppola said she didn't know. It wasn't scripted. Advanced sound engineering has been used to produce a fuzzy enhancement. Harry Caul of " The Conversation " would be proud of it, but it's entirely irrelevant. Those words weren't for our ears.

Coppola (1) didn't write the dialog, (2) didn't intentionally record the dialogue, and (3) was happy to release the movie that way, so we cannot hear. Why must we know? Do we need closure? This isn't a closure kind of movie. We get all we need in simply knowing they share a moment private to them, and seeing that it contains something true before they part forever. Popular Blog Posts ‎Lost in Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 20 I always manage to get incredibly anxious and wary over the prospect of rewatching the films that I love like children who went off to war. To the point where my favorite films intimidate me, they scare me. Because if I saw such a clear reflection of myself in them at one point in my life what if when I look back into them I can't see my reflection anymore? What if I changed and didn't notice? What if the love I felt so strongly before turned out to be just transient white noise? What if.

Ebert once said that a favorite film is one you can watch over and over again and continuously fall in love with in new… 15 Sofia Coppola is a director who often lets scenes speak through music, frequently employing hip indie scores - including, in this case, Phoenix, My Bloody Valentine, Air and The Jesus and Mary Chain amongst others - even when not exactly matching the time period that’s being portrayed (Marie Antoinette). Yet, in Lost in Translation I get the feeling that she for once deliberately chooses to let silence speak for itself as well; the stellar duo Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray exchange surprisingly few words in a movie wherein they’re involved in a blossoming romance of some sort. From that perspective, Lost in Translation forms a stark contrast to the similarly themed Before trilogy of Richard Linklater (specifically referring to the… 19 Look over here. Look at this pretty, pretty film. Look at this wacky and vibrant city they call Tokyo. Look at the ocean of neon signs and how the city seems to come alive at night because of them. Listen to the busy crowds, the clinking of glasses. Listen to the girl as she takes on half the world.

Listen to the old man and the young girl whisper, then watch as the city swallows up their words, the giant wave of Japanese phrases drowning theirs. Look at these two lost souls finding each other at the right place but the wrong time. Look at the exhaustion in their eyes, hear the regret in their sighs. Forget that they're actors,… Lost in Translation (2003) - Movie | Moviefone Lost in Translation (2003) DVD Release Date: February 3rd, 2004 R|1 hr 42 min Follow the movie on Facebook Plot Summary 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.

Sofia Coppola Discusses ‘Lost in Translation’ on Its 10th Anniversary - The Daily Beast Coppola’s Memories Sofia Coppola Discusses ‘Lost in Translation’ on Its 10th Anniversary On Sept. 12, 2003, the Tokyo-set love story, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, opened in theaters. A decade on, the movie’s Oscar-winning filmmaker, Sofia Coppola, talks to Marlow Stern about making the film. 09.12.13 8:45 AM ET Getty;Everett Collection There are a handful of films that have carved out prime real estate in the hearts of millennials. During one of your many aimless trips to the mall, you may have nabbed the movie’s poster from f.y.e. to grace the wall of your dorm room or moseyed over to Tower Records to cop the soundtrack. You may have even taken your fandom on the road, annoying the rest of your family mid-vacation with eager observations like “Oh, this is the place where _________ kissed!” Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, which was released theatrically on Sept. 12, 2003, is one of those films.

Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, an aging American actor who is in Tokyo to shoot a whiskey commercial, for which he’s being paid $2 million. Bob isn’t happy. His career is on the downslope, and the fire in his marriage has long been out. Also in Tokyo is Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a young college graduate whose hipster husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is a celebrity photographer on assignment in the city. Much to her chagrin, he seems more interested in palling around with a young American actress, Kelly (Anna Faris), than spending time with her. The two marooned Americans keep running into each other at night in the hotel bar, and soon a relationship begins to form. In each other, these two lost souls have found exactly what they’d been missing, and they bust out of their hotel-prison to explore the vibrancy of Tokyo. Many millennials, in particular, connected with Lost in Translation’s themes of loneliness and ennui, and the movie grossed $120 million worldwide—against a budget of just $4 million—and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, with Coppola winning the latter.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the movie, Coppola spoke to The Daily Beast about the making of the film, her favorite memories of hanging out with Bill Murray in Tokyo, and much more. Where did you come up with the idea for Lost in Translation? I spent a lot of time in Tokyo in my 20s. I had a little clothing company with a friend, so we went there a few times a year. I was living in L.A. at the time, and I always thought about the little cultural differences between the two places. I put a lot of things in that really happened. And since I was in my 20s and didn’t really know what I wanted to be doing, I think it’s my most personal movie because it’s about what I was going through at the time. And then Bill Murray , my fantasy hero, just swooped in. I know how hard it is to even try and nab Bill for an interview—going through his lawyer, etc.—so how did you corral him? When I was writing it I was picturing him and he really inspired it, and I wasn’t going to make the movie without him, so I was determined to convince him.

I spent about a year trying to track him down and was asking random people who knew him through golf. I was on a mission. And he didn’t have an agent at that time, so he was very elusive. I showed my friend Mitch Glazer, who’s a writer, a very early version of the script, and he thought it had something and liked that I saw Bill in that way, so he helped introduce us. We went to Japan without knowing if Bill was going to show up—he wouldn’t even tell us what flight he was on because he’s so elusive—so it was nerve-wracking, but he showed up right before we started shooting. Also, with Scarlett, she was a relatively green actor at the time. How did you arrive at her, and what made you feel she and Murray would have such great chemistry together? I just liked her from that movie Manny & Lo, and she was 17, but I had this idea of her being this young Lauren Bacall-type girl. I loved her low voice. You can’t really gauge the chemistry unless you do tests before you start shooting, and I don’t think they even met before we did, so I just picked someone I liked and hoped that it worked.

And Bill is so lovable. One of the film’s many accomplishments is that, despite the big age difference, the relationship between Bob and Charlotte doesn’t come off as creepy. I’m glad! I think it’s a lot to do with the casting. There were certain actors that people mentioned for the Bill part, and if they were lying in bed, that could have been creepy, but it’s just something about how Bill is that it never came off lecherous. Maybe because he’s such a kid. How autobiographical is the story? There have been all the rumors that Giovanni Ribisi’s character is based on your husband at the time, Spike Jonze , and that Anna Faris’s character is based on Cameron Diaz. The character of the actress was based on a bunch of people—just that type. I could probably name eight people that she was based on, just that bubbly, extroverted blonde that you see on talk shows. It was the opposite of the Scarlett character, where I was feeling very introverted and didn’t know what I was doing. It was just a certain actress type that I was hanging around sometimes. It wasn’t a slight at anyone in particular.

But the character of the husband, I was just married and trying to figure it out, so that relationship was based on what I was going through at the time. Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily DigestStart and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat SheetA speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason The opening shot of Scarlett lying on the bed in her underwear is one of the film’s great images. What inspired that shot? There’s a painter called John Kacere who does paintings of girls in different underwear, so it’s taken from one of his paintings. When I started the movie, I had a reference book of different images that came to mind with the movie. I always collect reference pictures to make a book that I can show, and they were just snapshots around Tokyo, looking out the taxi and seeing neon lights going by, and I used to stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, so there were pictures of the view from the hotel bar.

And the redheaded singer [in the film] was actually a singer I saw performing at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, and we got the manager to track her down. One hilarious moment is the “lip my stocking!” scene with Bob and the Japanese woman in the hotel room. Where did that come from? That came from a story of a friend of mine who was working in Japan and had this story of, I don’t know if it was a prostitute or a co-worker, and thought she wanted some bondage thing, but it was a misunderstanding. And I was looking for stories of misunderstandings. The “Suntory Time” commercial shoot is so hilarious. I read that it was based on a real-life commercial that your father shot with Kurosawa? Yeah. My dad and Kurosawa did a Suntory commercial which they shot at our house in San Francisco. But going to Japan, you’d always see ads of people like Kevin Costner or someone promoting coffee. It’s this heightened, Japanese idea of Western culture. And I was cracking up the whole time during that shoot.

That was a real photographer, and I was sitting with the photographer and I would say things to him and he would repeat it to Bill, so he was yelling things like, “Rat pack!” at Bill, and Bill would respond. And Bill improvised that entire scene. Any favorite memories of hanging with Bill during the making of Lost in Translation? He’s just so much fun. I remember he would throw the hotel housekeeper lady over his shoulder and walk around with her. He was so funny and so fun. Bill’s been known to crash the occasional karaoke party. Did you know about his love of karaoke before making him sing it in the movie? I knew he sang because I remember that character on SNL of the lounge singer, and we all went out with the crew and would sing karaoke. That was definitely a highlight. I feel like Bill was kind of a classic rock guy, but I can’t remember what songs we did! I also heard that the crew was almost arrested a couple of times for filming in public in Tokyo— We didn’t have permits and would just go into the subway or on the street, and I think there was some Yakuza mix-up at some point.

Apparently, we were on some Yakuza territory that we didn’t know about. That shot where Scarlett is crossing the street, there was a Starbucks upstairs so we just snuck up there, bought a coffee, and shot it from above. Nobody seemed to notice. And we got shut down a few times on the street but just moved on. Problems with the cops and the Yakuza aside, what was toughest scene for you to film? The scene where [Bill and Scarlett] are lying in bed talking and the TV is on, it’s just really intimate. That was just off. I don’t know if they just weren’t in a good mood, but they weren’t getting along and it wasn’t going well. So we just stopped and tried again the next day. I just remember it being a bit tense, but it’s just such an intimate moment. And we shot the film in 27 days and it was super low budget, so the whole thing was tough, and there was a language barrier with the crew and cultural misunderstandings there as well. It was a messy adventure, but it was fun. The film has a great soundtrack, too. It was the first time many Americans had heard Phoenix.

I always liked Phoenix , but they weren’t really known here until recently. They were just songs I liked and had been listening to, and Brian Reitzell would help me out and make me Tokyo dream-pop mixes. Phoenix’s “Too Young,” just the lyrics and the whole feeling of it, I loved it for that scene. Thomas [Mars, lead singer of Phoenix] did a song with Air called “Playground Love” that was in The Virgin Suicides, and he performed it with them at Sundance, so we met a long time ago. But he lived in France, so I didn’t get to know him until I lived in France for Marie Antoinette. I feel like this film inspired a generation of young women to visit Japan. Are you a VIP in Japan now for life? That’s so funny. Probably the hardest thing was convincing the Park Hyatt hotel to let us shoot a movie there, because they didn’t want a movie shot there. They would only let us shoot in the hallways and the communal places at 3 or 4 in the morning, so we didn’t disturb any guests. We were always sneaking around the hotel. But now I’ve heard they have Lost in Translation tours there.

I should go back and stay at the hotel! I heard that the kiss at the end between Bill and Scarlett was sprung on her, and she didn’t know it was coming. It was always meant to be this tender goodbye where they both knew that they had touched each other in some way. And I remember sometimes he would always spring things on her, and it was fun to get her reaction. Is the statute of limitations up on what Bill whispers to Scarlett at the end? No, I still love that Bill says it’s between them! Do you think Bob and Charlotte would ever cross paths again? That’s so funny…I’ve never thought about that! I have different fantasies of what would happen to them, but I’d like people to form their own. Lost in Translation gained such a huge cult following. Why do you think it’s held up so well? For me, I was just writing these little notes about stuff that happened to me, or what I thought, and I didn’t think anyone was going to be interested, so it’s really a surprise to me that that many people have seen it and that it did as well as it did. I felt like it was really indulgent, so yeah, it was a surprise.

And it’s still surprising to me. READ THIS LIST Lost in Translation Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert Tweet The Japanese phrase "mono no aware," is a bittersweet reference to the transience of life. It came to mind as I was watching "Lost in Translation," which is sweet and sad at the same time it is sardonic and funny. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play two lost souls rattling around a Tokyo hotel in the middle of the night, who fall into conversation about their marriages, their happiness and the meaning of it all. Advertisement These conversations can really only be held with strangers. We all need to talk about metaphysics, but those who know us well want details and specifics; strangers allow us to operate more vaguely on a cosmic scale. When the talk occurs between two people who could plausibly have sex together, it gathers a special charge: you can only say "I feel like I've known you for years" to someone you have not known for years. Funny, how your spouse doesn't understand the bittersweet transience of life as well as a stranger encountered in a hotel bar. Especially if drinking is involved.

Murray plays Bob Harris, an American movie star in Japan to make commercials for whiskey. "Do I need to worry about you, Bob?" his wife asks over the phone. "Only if you want to," he says. She sends him urgent faxes about fabric samples. Johansson plays Charlotte, whose husband John is a photographer on assignment in Tokyo. She visits a shrine and then calls a friend in America to say, "I didn't feel anything." Then she blurts out: "I don't know who I married." She's in her early 20s, Bob's in his 50s. This is the classic set-up for a May-November romance, since in the mathematics of celebrity intergenerational dating you can take five years off the man's age for every million dollars of income. But "Lost in Translation" is too smart and thoughtful to be the kind of movie where they go to bed and we're supposed to accept that as the answer. Sofia Coppola , who wrote and directed, doesn't let them off the hook that easily. They share something as personal as their feelings rather than something as generic as their genitals. These are two wonderful performances. Bill Murray has never been better.

He doesn't play "Bill Murray" or any other conventional idea of a movie star, but invents Bob Harris from the inside out, as a man both happy and sad with his life -- stuck, but resigned to being stuck. Marriage is not easy for him, and his wife's voice over the phone is on autopilot. But he loves his children. They are miracles, he confesses to Charlotte. Not his children specifically, but -- children. Advertisement He is very tired, he is doing the commercials for money and hates himself for it, he has a sense of humor and can be funny, but it's a bother. She has been married only a couple of years, but it's clear that her husband thinks she's in the way. Filled with his own importance, flattered that a starlet knows his name, he leaves her behind in the hotel room because -- how does it go? -- he'll be working, and she won't have a good time if she comes along with him. Ingmar Bergman's " Scenes from a Marriage " was about a couple who met years after their divorce and found themselves "in the middle of the night in a dark house somewhere in the world." That's how Bob and Charlotte seem to me.

Most of the time nobody knows where they are, or cares, and their togetherness is all that keeps them both from being lost and alone. They go to karaoke bars and drug parties, pachinko parlors and, again and again, the hotel bar. They wander Tokyo, an alien metropolis to which they lack the key. They don't talk in the long literate sentences of the characters in " Before Sunrise ," but in the weary understatements of those who don't have the answers. Now from all I've said you wouldn't guess the movie is also a comedy, but it is. Basically it's a comedy of manners -- Japan's, and ours. Bob Harris goes everywhere surrounded by a cloud of white-gloved women who bow and thank him for -- allowing himself to be thanked, I guess. Then there's the director of the whiskey commercial, whose movements for some reason reminded me of Cab Calloway performing "Minnie the Moocher." And the hooker sent up to Bob's room, whose approach is melodramatic and archaic; she has obviously not studied the admirable Japanese achievements in porno. And the B-movie starlet ( Anna Faris ), intoxicated with her own wonderfulness.

Advertisement In these scenes there are opportunities for Murray to turn up the heat under his comic persona. He doesn't. He always stays in character. He is always Bob Harris, who could be funny, who could be the life of the party, who could do impressions in the karaoke bar and play games with the director of the TV commercial, but doesn't -- because being funny is what he does for a living, and right now he is too tired and sad to do it for free. Except ... a little. That's where you see the fine-tuning of Murray's performance. In a subdued, fond way, he gives us wry faint comic gestures, as if to show what he could do, if he wanted to. Well, I loved this movie. I loved the way Coppola and her actors negotiated the hazards of romance and comedy, taking what little they needed and depending for the rest on the truth of the characters. I loved the way Bob and Charlotte didn't solve their problems, but felt a little better anyway. I loved the moment near the end when Bob runs after Charlotte and says something in her ear, and we're not allowed to hear it. We shouldn't be allowed to hear it.

It's between them, and by this point in the movie, they've become real enough to deserve their privacy. Maybe he gave her his phone number. Or said he loved her. Or said she was a good person. Or thanked her. Or whispered, "Had we but world enough, and time..." and left her to look up the rest of it. Advertisement Lost in Translation - Bill Murray Interview Box Office News Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in "Lost in Translation.". Focus Features American actor Bill Murray stars as American movie star Bob Harris in Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation." Set in Japan, "Lost in Translation" follows two strangers (Murray and Scarlett Johansson), both insomniacs, who meet in a hotel bar and strike up a surprising friendship. BILL MURRAY INTERVIEW: What was the biggest challenge in expressing this characters issues? Weve seen a movie where theres a guy whos conflicted and hes married [and] hes away. The thing for anybody whos ever been married and away - whether youre a man or a woman - youre married and youre away, so what does that mean?

Does that mean you dont meet people? Does that mean you dont talk to them? Does that mean you dont have interchange? Does it mean you dont flirt with them? continue reading below our video 5 Urban Myths That Rule the Ages Does it mean you dont talk to them? Is it wrong to be up in the middle of the night with someone thats not your spouse? Well, if youre 13,000 miles away, all of a sudden its like what else am I going to do? It sort of comes to that. And then theres this moment where you kind of go, Oh, we could sort of tumble down and end up complicating things more. Are we going to do that? Then [its] like, Well, I don't know. Its not really on my mind. Im just sort of lonely, really. So you go a little further and you spend more time with someone. As an actor, and as a writer/director, the question is is it going to be very noble here?

[Is] this guy going to say, I just cant call you. We cant share room service anymore? Is it going to be like that sort of thing, or is it going to be a little more real where they actually get really close to it? I think theres one interesting scene - well, theres a lot of interesting scenes - but theres sort of a tricky scene where theyre in the same room and theyre watching 8 ½ and theyre talking about stuff. Ive been in this situation before and Ive seen people do it. Ive seen other people do it in other movies. I know that you sort of want to, because youre so close to somebody Its so promising. It would be so easy to do this right now and all Id have to say is, My wife is a bitch. My wife is a pain and my kids drive me nuts.

I love them but they drive me nuts. And that, to me, was the moment where, Okay, how is this guy going to be respectable and not in a politically correct way, but in a way that I can feel like its true? It validates all the complication of it. Its going all the way and just saying, Okay, and theres more to it than this. Even though youre with a beautiful girl and its the middle of the night in Tokyo, youre never going to be one of my kids. Once you know that, now what are you going to do? Lets get that straight. Instead of saying, This is the end of the conversation. Im not going to walk out the door and slam it or anything. Its just matter of fact. This is who we are. I think hes also a guy that ends up having too much to drink and he ends up with a crazy dingbat singer. These are the nightmares that people have. These are the nightmares that people live through. So its not like hes flawless or anything, but hes trying.

He picks his fights and he fights as much as he can, like anybody. ‎‘Lost in Translation’ review by Rowan • Letterboxd Watched Aug 04 , 2016 Rowan’s review published on Letterboxd : There's something so special about this film. Maybe its it sweet melancholic charm and blurred city lights. Maybe it's cos it's set in Japan. Or maybe I just want to explore Tokyo with Scarlett Johansen and Bill Murray. But whatever it is, it's definitely worth a watch. Report this review

Question: The 2003 film Lost in Translation is set in which city?
Answer: Tokyo