Most Inspirational Travel Film
Lost in Translation
Director: Sofia Coppola
Screenplay: Sofia Coppola
Producer: Ross Katz
Distributor: Focus Features
UK release: 2003
Lost in Translation: what's the story?
For a film that is soaked in ennui and lassitude, Lost in Translation is surprisingly pacey. The story is about a washed up movie star, Bob Harris, who is visiting Tokio to film a whisky advert that will bank-roll him to the tune of a couple of million bucks. Staying at the same hotel is a young Yale graduate, Charlotte, who is visiting the city with her (rather shallow) photographer husband and while he is out on shoots she is left - neglected, abandoned and bored - to pass the time. When these two personalities meet up, they form a poignant bond that is strengthened through their shared experiences of Tokyo and heightened by a sense of displacement in a disparate culture.
Who's in Lost in Translation?
Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and Giovanni Ribisi, plus Anna Faris as Kelly.
Where's the film set?
Tokyo is the predominant location of the film. Venues featured throughout the film include: The New York Bar, in the Shinjuku Park Tower, billed as "Tokyo’s most spectacular venue for live music" and part of the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel in Shinjuku, described as "An elegant oasis of space and calm overlooking Tokyo and the Kanto Plain all the way to Mount Fuji". Other locations include the Heian Jingu shrine in Kyoto - an imperial Shinto shrine with the largest sacred gate in Japan, the steps of the giant San-mon gate at Nanzen-ji. The gate, a massive 22 metres high, offers climbers a wonderful view of Kyoto. Also included in the Tokyo locations is the Club Air in the Daikanyama district of Tokyo - Club Air has a cafe on the first floor and a bar and club downstairs.
What awards has Lost in Translation won?
The film won an Oscar for Sofia Coppola for Best Writing and Original Screenplay and the film was nominated for three more Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bill Murray) and Best Director. The film has also scooped three BAFTAs and three Golden Globes.
What do the reviews say about Lost in Translation?
Film website Rotten Tomatoes featured critic, Richard Corliss TIME Magazine, said: "Lost in Translation revels in contradictions. It's a comedy about melancholy, a romance without consummation, a travelogue that rarely hits the road." Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian wrote: "Sofia Coppola's second movie as a director is more than a breakthrough: it's an insouciant triumph. She conjures a terrifically funny, heartbreakingly sad and swooningly romantic movie from almost nowhere and just makes it look very easy - as well as very modern and very sexy. It is a funky little Brief Encounter for the new century."