Lost in Translation

Whilst I have never watched more than a handful of scenes from Ghostbusters, I must admit I also haven't closely followed Murray's comedic filmography career. Bill Murray is an internationally known comedian who has been able to apply his craft as a dramatic actor.

I have been taking a number of flights of late and decided to watch this amazing movie again on the inflight entertainment system. I prefer the dramatic movies as I am not at all interested in special effects or action movies.

Lost in Translation (2003) is an interesting movie, Murray playing Bob Harris is a jaded actor brought over to Japan to make a Suntory whiskey commercial. He is treated with a fair degree of reverence and respect from his Japanese hosts, yet he is indifferent to the attention and is bored even though he is aware he is well past his prime.

Scarlett Johansson, then 18 playing Charlotte is the young, articulate, highly educated and pretty wife of John, an entertainment still photographer who is on assignment in Japan. Away from home, Charlotte is isolated from family surroundings and friends whilst not receiving the intellectual stimulation she needs so strikes up an unlikely friendship with Murray's character.

Interestingly, director Sopia Coppola, daughter of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay based on her own life experiences. Charlotte’s husband John was loosely based on her then husband with the screenplay written specifically for Murray.

Sopia Coppola was nominated writing, directing and producing the film winning best original screenplay and also picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director - Motion Picture whilst the film won the Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical category. Amazingly, the film was shot in just 27 days and was Murray’s first and only Oscar nomination losing to Sean Penn in Mystic River.

Murray did ok though, he won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (2004) and a BAFTA Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (2004). Johansson was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (2004) and won the BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (2004).

The movie shot on a $4 million budget grossed $118 million worldwide with the script written in broad description instead of actual lines with the actors improvising as the movie was shot. They had not secured the necessary permits to film in Tokyo and some scenes were shot in secret to prevent the crew being detained by authorities.