Lost in Translation is a 2003 comedy-drama film. It centers on Bob Harris (Bill Murray), an American movie star whose career (and seemingly, marriage) is in decline. The film joins him as he arrives in Tokyo, Japan to film a Suntory whisky commercial. Unfulfilled with the work, he meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a recent Yale philosophy graduate who is unsure of the direction she would like her life to take. She is married to a celebrity photographer (played by Giovanni Ribisi), and is in Japan to accompany her husband on work trip to take publicity photos for a female movie star, but has become bored and lonely due to her husband's preoccupation with work. Although both are married, Bob and Charlotte share a friendship that borders on unconsummated romance, while briefly exploring the cultural life of Tokyo and the surrounding area. The central focus of the film is on the two characters' feelings of alienation, not only with their immediate Japanese surroundings, but their own separate senses of alienation from those closest to them, and their uncertainty about the direction of their lives. The ending is deliberately ambiguous about whether they will continue their friendship when they return (separately) to America.

Superficially, Lost in Translation is a movie about culture shock. The film explores these themes against the background of the modern Japanese cityscape. The film is rated R in the United States, 15 in the United Kingdom, PG in Australia and PG in Canada.

It was the second feature film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, after The Virgin Suicides. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Bill Murray, and Best Director for Sofia Coppola. Coppola won Best Original Screenplay.

Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable traveling companions. Charlotte is looking for "her place in life," and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they? Written by veloc

He's doing a commercial, parlaying his fifteen minutes of movie stardom. She's just graduated from college, recently married, and tagged along with her husband, a photographer on assignment. He's married with children, but he's never home. She's supporting her husband, but has no idea what she wants to do with her own life. Both are searching for the meaning of their lives, looking at the situation from different points of view. A person's lifetime is filled with self examination. Why am I here? What am I doing? Is this as good as it gets? The plot of this movie is the plot of life. You have a beginning. You're in the middle, and your story hasn't ended yet (in some cases, it won't end even after your death). Bob and Charlotte find each other fulfilling certain needs. Charlotte needs Bob's attention and humor, and Bob needs someone he can talk to (Bob "talks" with his wife, but they are not really talking). Bob helps Charlotte by answering her questions regarding life and direction, while Charlotte helps Bob by reminding him how much he loves his children and his wife. The love between the two characters is not one of lust but rather one of emotional and psychological need. Plotless, pointless, and boring? Only if you want all your stories packaged nicely with pretty paper and pretty ribbons. To me, the movie is like the shabu shabu sushi restaurant. What you get out of it depends on how much you put into it. The meaning of our lives, the purpose, the dreams (both dashed and realized), and the expectations forced upon us by others. "Translation" means to explain in simple terms. How do you "translate" what life is? What is it supposed to be about? Different answers for different people at different times in their lives. "Lost In Translation" indeed and it has nothing to do with pronouncing hard R's. Written by randywong@fairisaac.com

Americans abroad, almost innocents. Charlotte, fresh out of Yale with a degree in philosophy, is in Tokyo with her husband, a photographer whose work takes him away that week. She's adrift, her soul on ice. Bob, mid-50s, a semi-retired movie star, is there to make $2 million doing a whisky ad. At home are a wife and young children, but he's jaded and melancholy. Both are jet-lagged, and Tokyo's culture and language push them further off kilter. When they meet in the hotel bar and spend their free time together for a few days, possibilities arise amidst the losses. Their friendship becomes an experience: does he have something to teach; can she reconnect him to life? Written by