With Lost in Translation, director Sofia Coppola makes a serious bid to claim her last name for herself.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:214
Fresh:203
Rotten:11
Average Rating:8.4/10
Consensus: Murray gives one of his best performances in this expertly crafted mood piece.
Theatrical Release:Sep 12, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $44,566,004
Synopsis: Sofia Coppola's second feature-length film focuses on two guests at a Tokyo hotel--Bob (Bill Murray), a middle-aged actor in town to film whiskey commercials, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson),... Sofia Coppola's second feature-length film focuses on two guests at a Tokyo hotel--Bob (Bill Murray), a middle-aged actor in town to film whiskey commercials, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the young wife of a trendy photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) who is always out on a shoot. When Bob isn't on the job taking fragmented direction from the Japanese crew, he's receiving faxes on home decorating from his emotionally distant wife. And while her husband is away, Charlotte spends most of her time trying to motivate herself to do more than look out the window at Tokyo's urban sprawl. So when the two meet in the hotel bar, they strike up an unusual friendship, one that provides a welcome escape from their boredom and loneliness. With LOST IN TRANSLATION, Coppola cements her reputation as a thoughtful and inventive filmmaker. Every element of the movie is pitch-perfect, from the dreamy, atmospheric score to the expertly timed editing to the lingering shots of the characters and the city. Most importantly, Coppola's minimalist script allows Murray and Johansson to give astonishingly moving yet subtle performances as people who are lost in the limbo of a foreign country, but find each other for comfort and companionship. Both heartbreakingly sad and hilariously funny, Coppola's LOST IN TRANSLATION is that rare movie in which everything is in its right place. [More]
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi, Yutaka Tadokoro
Director: Sofia Coppola
Director: Sofia Coppola
Screenwriter: Sofia Coppola
Producer: Sofia Coppola, Ross Katz
Studio: Focus Features
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Reviews for Lost in Translation
Coppola lacks a firm grip on this material, and it starts to get away from her midway through.
It's as if Murray opens the front door to his psyche wide and lets the whole neighborhood in.
A movie as good as anything [Sofia Coppola's] daddy ever made -- and yet Lost in Translation is a movie he could not have made if he tried.
Lost In Translation inspires a unique feeling of optimism, a sense that there are more people than we expect who understand our lifelong conundrums.
Sofia Coppola is a rising star, and this is definitely one of the best films of 2003.
What could have been one of the year's best films is tripped up by a couple of sloppy contrivances.
Murray is outstanding as the bearer of flawed maturity and gnawing melancholy.
Esoteric, atmospheric, and far more concerned with mood than it is with telling a legitimate story
A film for any lost soul, anyone trying to figure where their life is headed and if they're happy about it.
Lost in Translation presents an honest look at two people in an unfamiliar city.
Never missing a step, it continues The Virgin Suicide’s vision of the world as a dreamscape of intangible longings.
The title doesn't refer to a misunderstanding so much as a state of being.
Lost in Translation is one of the year's best films, an intelligent, beautifully rendered mood piece that features Bill Murray at his absolute best.
The film works best when the two [leads] are having talks together with Murray playing it quiet and sincere. Sadly there are fewer of such moments than the film needed.
This is a quiet, contemplative comedy whose comedic moments seem secondary in importance to its deeper, more beautiful ones.
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December 14, 2007:
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