Lost In Translation: Critic Reviews

Exquisite study in emotional and geographical dislocation.

One of the purest and simplest examples ever of a director falling in love with her star's gifts.

Bill Murray is one of the greatest, least ingratiating comic actors at work today: appropriately enough he once played a modern version of Scrooge.

The joys of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation come from watching Murray modify his trademark passive- aggressive style into played-straight comic bewilderment -- and to marvel at his slim new picture- of-health appearance.

If Murray has an imposing corner on the comic dynamism in this movie, Johansson is no less compelling for her mysticism, self-assurance and charm.

It gets at something exquisitely human.

It allows Scarlett Johansson to arrive as an actress at the same time it finally gives Bill Murray the great role that has always eluded him.

Coppola -- who wrote as well as directed -- gives Murray room to stretch and is rewarded with some remarkably melancholy clowning.

A smartly written, confidently directed film that delivers big laughs while developing two of the year's most earnest characters and some of its most rewarding sentiments.

A stylish meditation on alienation and ennui.

Lost in Translation is a fortunate encounter between a young talent on the rise and an old pro still hitting his stride.

How to sing the praises of Lost in Translation without drowning out its subtle pleasures?

In Japan, the most extreme delicacy goes hand in hand with garishness, and Coppola offers up both for our delectation. It's a heady, hallucinatory combo.

Sweet and sad at the same time it is sardonic and funny.

Mysterious and complex, as it muses bittersweetly on marriage, longing and the disconnectedness one can feel from another culture or people.

Although Translation is only [Coppola's] second feature, she already shows signs of being a sensei, as the Japanese call a master.

By the end of Lost in Translation, we don't know much about Japan, but we know a lot more about the human condition.

Textured, thoughtful and touching.

It's a wonderful film, all subtlety and grace, from the delicate script of writer-director Sofia Coppola to the finely tuned efforts of Bill Murray, who gives a still, laconic yet mesmerizing performance.

Of course, Mr. Murray gets all the laughs with his exquisite timing and wry delivery, but Ms. Johansson makes an eloquent and charismatic listener.

Very much a mood piece, the film's deft balance of humor and poignancy makes it both a pleasurable and melancholy experience.

Sublimely romantic and subtle.

[A] rich and funny film.

How instinctively we react -- and connect -- when a film captures a feeling that is all too common, and all too real.

In Lost in Translation, [Murray] emerges as a complete character -- honourable and venal, fallible and funny, adding vulnerability to the panache.