Barnes & Noble

The undisputed sleeper hit of 2003, this utterly captivating little drama richly deserves its critical and commercial success, and we're happy to report that, if anything, it's even more bewitching when seen on a small screen. Lost in Translation tells a deceptively slight story, but under the direction of Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides) it becomes an unusually engrossing tale of the basic human longing for connection. Bill Murray, in what is surely his best screen performance to date, portrays a middle-aged movie star whose career is on the wane. Sent to Tokyo to shoot a high-paying series of commercials, the severely jet-lagged actor befriends a commercial photographer's young wife (Scarlett Johansson), who's feeling extremely dislocated and having second thoughts about her hastily arranged marriage while her husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is off on various shoots. The unlikely friendship that springs up between actor and wife -- he's old enough to be her father -- animates this film, which perfectly conveys their simultaneous feelings of loneliness, alienation, and exhaustion. Coppola's script is remarkably short on dialogue, and her direction is preternaturally sensitive and understated. The leading characters' intensity of feeling is conveyed with the simplest of looks and gestures, and there's an almost voyeuristic thrill of discovery to be had while watching their relationship develop from sequence to sequence. Murray's performance is commendable in its restraint, but Johansson's is even more remarkable, especially since she's playing a character who is several years older than she is. Supporting players Ribisi and Anna Faris (as a ditzy blonde actress, reportedly modeled on Cameron Diaz) do fine work; but this show belongs to its two stars. It's extremely rare for such a modest film to be so affecting, but Lost in Translation has beaten the odds, proving yet again that a movie doesn't need lavish special effects, big-name stars, or elaborate action scenes to etch itself forever in your memory. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

After making a striking directorial debut with her screen adaptation of The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola offers a story of love and friendship blooming under unlikely circumstances in this comedy drama. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a well-known American actor whose career has gone into a tailspin; needing work, he takes a very large fee to appear in a commercial for Japanese whiskey to be shot in Tokyo. Feeling no small degree of culture shock in Japan, Bob spends most of his non-working hours at his hotel, where he meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) at the bar. Twentysomething Charlotte is married to John (Giovanni Ribisi), a successful photographer who is in Tokyo on an assignment, leaving her to while away her time while he works. Beyond their shared bemusement and confusion with the sights and sounds of contemporary Tokyo, Bob and Charlotte share a similar dissatisfaction with their lives; the spark has gone out of Bob's marriage, and he's become disillusioned with his career. Meanwhile, Charlotte is puzzled with how much John has changed in their two years of marriage, while she's been unable to launch a creative career of her own. Bob and Charlotte become fast friends, and as they explore Tokyo, they begin to wonder if their sudden friendship might be growing into something more. Mark Deming

Entertainment Weekly

What's astonishing about Sofia Coppola's enthralling new movie is the precision, maturity, and originality with which the confident young writer-director communicates so clearly in a cinematic language all her own. Lisa Schwarzbaum

New York Times

Here he (Murray) supplies the kind of performance that seems so fully realized and effortless that it can easily be mistaken for not acting at all. Elvis Mitchell

Chicago Sun-Times

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. Roger Ebert

Los Angeles Times

The fact that this kind of serious material ends up playing puckishly funny as well as poignant is a tribute both to Coppola and to her do-or-die decision to cast Murray in the lead role. Kenneth Turan

New York Post

It's impossible to conceive of this ruefully funny entertainment without Bill Murray, who is nothing less than brilliant. Lou Lumenick

Product Details

• UPC: 025192468629
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Pan & Scan
• Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 1:42:00
• Sales Rank: 14,175

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