Lost in Translation

LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)

Remember when people laughed at Sofia Coppola’s timbersome performance in The Godfather Part III. The film wasn’t great but she seemed to get most of the flack.

Who knew she’d be the one laughing 13 years later by becoming a stellar filmmaker.

For only her second film she draws on her experience of when she and then husband Spike Jonze spent time in Japan. Apparently she was pretty lonely. Proof that from sad times true beauty can blossom. A formula Adele’s profited off for years.

After a career playing the funny man Bill Murray reinvents himself as a serious actor. And a movie star is born in Scarlett Johansson.

He plays a grumpy Hollywood veteran making a quick buck filming a whisky commercial in Japan for Japanese-only audiences. A trend that still happens today (if you haven’t seen it and fancy a good laugh please YouTube Tom Hiddleston’s Centrum advert).

Scarlett Johansson steps into Coppola’s shoes as the dissatisfied and isolated wife of a photographer left alone in her hotel while her husband busies himself with Cameron Diaz. Allegedly. Anna Farris’ smashing cameo leaves you suspecting no one else.

The two protagonists meet one night in the hotel bar and embark on an unconventional friendship. It’s a romance without any romance. But a love a story with plenty of love.

I am obsessed with how still and quiet this film is. It’s hypnotic. Coppola is a director who knows how to bring the performances down to almost a whisper and it is utterly compelling. Murray received his first and only Oscar nom and Johansson was robbed blind, though good old BAFTA furnished her with gold. Also, as if she was only 18 when she made this. Outstanding.

Nominated at the 2004 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and winning for Best Original Screenplay this film is funny, sweet and charming. I love the simplicity, I love the quietness and I love the heart of this film. It’s such a beautiful illustration of two disoriented souls who rescue each other.

Watch this tonight with a whisky.

10 Serene Thumbs Up!