Lost in Translation

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) ist ein abgehalfterter US-Fernsehstar in der Late Life Crisis. Als er nach Tokio reist, um dort einen hochdotierten Whiskey-Werbespot zu drehen, lernt er beim Frustertränken in der Hotelbar die ebenso reiche und unglückliche, bloß vierzig Jahre jüngere Landsfrau Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) kennen. Die unterforderte Ehefrau eines etwas allzu umtriebigen Starfotografen fühlt sich ziemlich allein unter all den vielen, fremd sprechenden Leuten. Da man ohnehin nichts besseres vorhat, treibt man sich ein Weilchen gemeinsam herum, entdeckt Gemeinsamkeiten und noch viel mehr. "Ghost World"-Blümchen Scarlett Johansson und der dank Wes Anderson zum respektierten Charakterstar gereifte Ex-"Ghostbuster" Bill Murray sind das Liebespaar des zu Recht gefeierten Regie-Zweitlings von Sofia Coppola.

Middle-aged American movie star Bob Harris is in Tokyo to film a personal endorsement Suntory whiskey ad solely for the Japanese market. He is past his movie star prime, but his name and image still have enough cachet for him to have gotten this lucrative $2 million job. He has an unsatisfying home life where his wife Lydia follows him wherever he goes - in the form of messages and faxes - for him to deal with the minutiae of their everyday lives, while she stays at home to look after their kids. Staying at the same upscale hotel is fellow American, twenty-something recent Yale Philosophy graduate Charlotte, her husband John, an entertainment still photographer, who is on assignment in Japan. As such, she is largely left to her own devices in the city, especially when his job takes him out of Tokyo. Both Bob and Charlotte are feeling lost by their current situations, which are not helped by the cultural barriers they feel in Tokyo, those cultural barriers extending far beyond just not...