Lost In Translation (dir. Sofia Coppola, 2003) - EveryFilmIWatch Review

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Lost in Translation is a charming film that, through its own tranquil plot manoeuvres and performances, imparts profound wisdom. The film centres on two very different Americans who strike up a chance friendship whilst staying at a Japanese hotel based on the Park Hyatt, Tokyo. Bill Murray plays a worn-out superstar actor hired to appear in a commercial for a Japanese whisky brand. Scarlett Johansson plays a newly married college grad staying with her self-oriented photographer husband.

Neither of them want to be where they are, but what they have most in common is that neither of them can really think of a place they'd rather be. Their relationship is completely unique: somewhat reminiscent of the leads in In The Mood For Love, it would be wrong to describe their relationship as a romance. Similarly, it’s not as simple as any sort of sullied father-daughter dynamic. They're friends who love each other, but, in the end, it’s really more of a matter of needing one another.

Needless to say, Johansson and Murray are terrific. It is inspired casting; both of them are born for those roles. Sophia Coppola directs her sophomore effort with a deeply technically grounded style but also with a delightful airiness, two almost irreconcilable traits. This is the result of a very good director working on material that is truly personal. It’s hard to compare the work to another film, dealing as it does in total ambiguity, with most of its dynamics caught between two poles: it’s melancholic but it’s sort of exultant, it’s philosophical but it’s sort of a rom-com, they’re in love but they're only friends. It makes for a completely unique and memorable film. And by memorable I don’t just mean personally, I really mean that, somehow, Coppola has made a very unusual film that will be remembered in cinematic history for a long time.

EveryFilmIWatch is multi-channel film review project run by Sebastian Cox, ScriptUp co-founder. Further reviews can be found on Instagram.