Cast

Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Giovanni Ribisi, Akiko Takeshita, Anna Faris, Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe, Kazuko Shibata, Take, François du Bois

awards

Oscar 2003 – best original screenplay, Golden Globes 2004 – best motion picture, best comedy actor, best screenplay in motion picture, Athens IFF 2003 – best film, BAFTA Awards 2004 – best actor, best actress, best editing, César 2005 – best foreign film, Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards 2005 – best foreign film

Film description

Lost in Translation is a testament to the changes in Hollywood over the last decade and what independent cinema can be with Hollywood’s backing. Focus Features, a subsidiary of Universal, produced the film, when only a decade earlier a script where the most important things happen off screen and are left unsaid would have gotten short shrift from Hollywood. Meanwhile, in the new millennium, projects with small budgets, big names giving up their normal pay, and a solid script were the daily bread of big studios hoping for a decent return and low costs. Coppola’s film surprised with its tremendous success remains one of the decade’s biggest triumphs, including at the box office.

The plot set-up of two people meeting in a foreign city is a must-see. The success of this form depends on the chemistry between the two stars; here, it’s thick as a brick. Coppola strikes just the right melancholy and comical tone in a film of non-verbal dialogues – glances, half-smiles, unfinished sentences, and silent understanding. She is the ultimate restrained director – few directors trust audiences enough to leave them alone with actors without explaining what to make of successive scenes. The best proof of her moderation is that she did not want to know what Bob whispers to Charlotte at the end.

Michał Chaciński