Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola, 2003 (8.5*)

This is one of those small, simple films that seems greater than the sum of its parts. The terrific screenplay by director Sophia Coppola deservedly won her an Oscar, but you have to bemoan the fact that star Bill Murray didn’t win, he was so understated and both funny and touching, you had to be pulling for him. Even though Scarlett Johansson had been a small star for awhile, this was her breakthrough in a big part. Murray is a U.S. star in Japan to make a whisky commercial, while Scarlett is at the same hotel with her husband, who is in Japan for but usually off working on a professional photography assignment, so she and Murray have time to kill alone in the hotel bar and start up a platonic friendship. Not an action film, but the cast and Coppola make this refreshingly small love story an addicting experience. One Oscar (Screenplay)