Lost in Translation (film)

Lost in Translation
Bill Murray's character sits on a hotel bed with Tokyo visible in a window behind him.
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySofia Coppola
Written bySofia Coppola
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLance Acord
Edited bySarah Flack
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • August 29, 2003 (2003-08-29) (Telluride Film Festival)
  • September 12, 2003 (2003-09-12) (United States)
  • April 17, 2004 (2004-04-17) (Japan)[1]
Running time
102 minutes[2]
Countries
LanguageEnglish[2]
Budget$4 million
Box office$118.7 million

Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy-drama film[note 1] written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. There, he befriends another estranged American named Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a young woman and recent college graduate. Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, and Fumihiro Hayashi are also featured. The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. It defies mainstream narrative conventions and is atypical in its depiction of romance.[4]

Coppola started writing the film after spending time in Tokyo and becoming fond of the city. She began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy"[5] in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where she stayed while promoting her first feature film, the 1999 drama The Virgin Suicides. Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob Harris from the beginning and tried to recruit him for up to a year, relentlessly sending him telephone messages and letters. While Murray eventually agreed to play the part, he did not sign a contract; Coppola spent a quarter of the film's $4 million budget without knowing if he would actually appear for shooting. When Murray finally arrived, Coppola described feelings of significant relief.

Principal photography began on September 29, 2002, and lasted 27 days. Coppola kept a flexible schedule during filming with a small crew and minimal equipment. The screenplay was short and Coppola often allowed a significant amount of improvisation during filming. The film's director of photography, Lance Acord, used available light as often as possible, and many Japanese places of business and public areas were used as locations for shooting. After 10 weeks of editing, Coppola sold distribution rights for the United States and Canada to Focus Features, and the company promoted the film by generating positive word of mouth before its theatrical release.

Lost in Translation premiered on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival, and was distributed to American theatres on September 12, 2003, to major commercial success, grossing $118 million worldwide, and receiving critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of Murray and Johansson as well as the writing and direction of Coppola; minor criticism was given to the film's depiction of Japan and Japanese people.[6] At the 76th Academy Awards, Lost in Translation won Coppola Best Original Screenplay, and the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). Other accolades won include three Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards.

  1. ^ "Interpreter's notes". The Japan Times. April 14, 2004. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Lost in Translation". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved August 13, 2023. Note: Select the "Cinema" and "Industry details" tabs.
  3. ^ a b "Lost in Translation (2003)". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference haslem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference olsen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ King 2010, p. 132.


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