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Dom Robinson reviews
Momentum Pictures
- Cert:
- Cat.no: MP319D
- Running time: 97 minutes
- Year: 2003
- Pressing: 2004
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 24 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Deleted scenes, “Lost” on location, A conversation with Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola, Trailer, Music Video, Matthew’s Best Hit TV
Director:
- Sofia Coppola
(Lick the Star, Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides)
Producers:
- Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz
Screenplay:
- Sofia Coppola
Music Supervisor:
- Karyn Rachtman
Cast:
- Bob Harris: Bill Murray
Charlotte: Scarlett Johansson
John: Giovanni Ribisi
Kelly: Anna Faris
Singer: Catherine Lambert
Director: Yutaka Tadokoro
Press Agent: Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe
Press Agent: Kazuko Shibata
Lost in Translation is an extraodinary film. Nothing happens, yet it’s completely encapsulating. Well, almost nothing happens.
Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a famous actor who’s in Tokyo for a few days to shoot a whiskey commercial and do some publicity shots. That’s it. Meanwhile, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson, so good in the excellent Ghost World) is a lonely wife staying at the same hotel with her fashion photographer husband John (Giovanni Ribisi), whose job envelopes his world and leaves him precious little time for his better half. As the film progresses, and Bob spends certain moments communicating with his wife of 25 years only by fax and short phone calls, we learn that both of the principal characters, whilst being part of a couple, have never felt more alone in their lives than they do right now.
As they meet and start to get to know one another, they have other things in common, such as the fact they’re both insomniacs. They go out for lunch on occasion, go to karaoke with her friends one evening, and only together can they really seem to find what they’re looking for amongst the gently-portrayed hustle and bustle of Japan’s capital city, with its neon-lit landscapes and technology bursting out of every corner (why is Britain still stuck in the middle ages, by comparison?), since they’re definitely two individuals who actually *get* one another, or is it a relationship doomed to failure since they both have the pressure of married life upon them?
The odd couple.
Murray and Johansson clearly have perfect chemistry here and I’d love to see them in another film together – not a sequel to this, as I think it’d be best to leave things as it is, but it’s always engaging when you see a director bring some of the actors back together for a movie further on down the line. There’s little use made of the usually-excellent Ribisi or Scary Movie‘s Anna Faris as an associate of his, Kelly, but then it’s not about either of their characters really. I could detail more about Lost in Translation, but it’s full of little things that you need to discover for yourself.
One thing I was starting to feel was that since nothing really happens in the film you don’t think you’ll get into it, but it sucks you in slow, then drags you under in the last half-hour. It’s a slice-of-life drama that shows how just one week in your life can remain in your memory for all eternity, similar to when spent a week in Russia in April 1986. Coming up to 14, I was too chicken to speak to the girl I’d been looking at all week, from another school party. I did absolutely sod all about it, and I can still remember what she looks like now. Life can be so shit sometimes…
About the location, I’ve never been to Tokyo, yet still feel like I’ve been taken on a journey with this movie. Clearly, Murray’s character has never been to the city either due to the way he misunderstands a direct order from an impromptu masseuse, courtesy of the language barrier.
And finally, on a note of trivia, costume designer Nancy Steiner also gets an uncredited cameo as the voice of Bob’s wife, Lydia.
Even in the quietest moments…
The film is presented in its original cinematic ratio of 1.85:1 and is anamorphic. There’s nothing to spoil the sumptuous visuals, nor even the basic indoor shots. The picture is a little soft most of the time, but that’s largely intentional when required.
Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks are available, so I always choose the latter, yet this is a drama that doesn’t have whizz-bang special FX running about, but still manages to attain the perfect ambience with music and slow moments blended together nicely.
An alternative poster featuring Scarlett Johansson.
The extras are as follows:
- “Lost” on Location (30 mins): Shot in 4:3, this is a selection of footage as Coppola and crew scout for locations and go about their shooting schedule in many of the key scenes.
As an aside, this is a 30-minute piece which strangely includes just two chapters, and even more strangely assigns the second one a mere five seconds in, after the opening screen that tells you it’s a ‘Behind the scenes’ piece. Also, selecting this option goes straight to the second chapter which is a bit odd, but why can’t these kind of extras always be given a set of their own chapters? I’ve done home-made DVDs myself with programmes from TV and have always managed to get the chapters right.
- Matthew’s Best Hit TV (4½ mins): The TV show that confuses the hell out of Bob Harris, and that’s when he’s the guest star.
It’s a shame there are no subtitles for this section, as Bob’s agent translates everything to him since I’d like to actually hear what’s being said in that conversation, yet it’s drowned out by the host.
- Music Video (3 mins): Kevin Shields – City Girl, with clips from the film featuring Scarlett Johansson.
- Deleted Scenes (10 mins): Five are featured, all in letterbox 16:9 and timecoded.
I’d have kept in the three with Bob and/or Charlotte, but explaining them before you see the film wouldn’t make much sense. They wouldn’t make a massive difference to the film, but would be pleasant enough to remain in the final cut.
- Trailer (2 mins): In letterbox 16:9.
- A Conversation with Bill Murray and Sofia Coppolla (9 mins): Not the most exciting of extras, as the pair talk to the camera about what the film meant to them, but they seem to mumble and exchange an in-joke or two so you don’t really feel part of that.
The only subtitles come in English, there are 24 chapters to the movie and the main menu features subtle animation blended with the opening music, the hypnotic Death in Vegas’ Girls. Nicely atmospheric.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.