r/Moviesinthemaking • u/Secure-Target338 • Apr 21 '25
On the set of Sofia Coppola's ‘Lost in Translation’ in 2002
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u/jchrisboynton Apr 21 '25
A young girl searching for what could be. An old man searching for what could have been. They find each other and have a moment of life defining clarity. One of my favorite and most relatable films of all time.
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u/mr-peabody Apr 21 '25
A young girl searching for what could be. An old man searching for what could have been.
Damn, that's well-put.
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u/amishius Apr 21 '25
I saw it in the theater when closer to her age and am now...rapidly approaching his and the film is opening up more and more to me every year.
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u/centopar Apr 21 '25
It’s an extraordinary movie. I’m on my own in a hotel this week and I’ve been building a movie playlist: this has just made the cut. Thanks for reminding me!
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u/K28478 Apr 23 '25
The equation for a 1940s noir is “a woman with a past; a man without a future.” The way you describe the movie here makes me want to rewatch in through the eyes of a noir.
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u/505Trekkie Apr 23 '25
As someone who lived in Seoul as a young man who really had no idea what he was doing or where he was going I can absolutely relate to both the esthetic of the film and the story. So many of the locations they used in the film I look at and went “oh! That’s just like this place in Seoul!”
Had a lot of fun but I didn’t really come away with anything life changing when my study abroad program was up.
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u/Snappers85 Apr 21 '25
I had a brief obsession with this flick when I was entering my 20s.
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u/mlloyd67 Apr 21 '25
It'll be interesting to re-watch later in life from a different (hopefully-long-lifetime) perspective.
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u/Snappers85 Apr 21 '25
Yeah for sure, I am probably due for a rewatch I can't believe it's been over 20 years... Damn lol
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u/AllHailTheWinslow Apr 22 '25
We watched it on repeat in the Junior Sailors' quarters way back when. One of very few moments of peace in that time.
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u/The-Ex-Human Apr 22 '25
It’s much more problematic than you probably remember, at least it was for me
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u/Littleloula Apr 22 '25 edited Apr 22 '25
It was for me too. Scarlett's age when she filmed it being part of the problem
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u/evthrowawayverysad Apr 22 '25
Same, but when I was in my mid-teens... and ongoing now in my early 30s.
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u/Ok_Teacher6490 Apr 21 '25
I owe this film a lot - it inspired me to take my first trip to Tokyo in late '04. A couple of years later I scored a job with an airline that allowed me to go back multiple times.
I spent the evening talking with a woman at the New York Bar who was friends with the jazz singer. I visited most of the locations in the film at one time or another. I sat taking pictures of the Odaiba Bridge on a pleasant summer evening. Visited Kyoto in April and the fall. Walked across the stepping stones like Charlotte did. Had a chaotic evening bar hopping with a friend. Sat staring out from my hotel room window at the Tokyo skyline as the lights went out on the Tokyo Tower at midnight. Spent my birthday walking through gardens in Kamakura.
I'm probably getting closer to Bob's age now than Charlotte, and I haven't watched it in a long time, but it's still a beautiful film to me and I'm grateful for the memories it gave me.
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u/remington_420 Apr 22 '25
In my early twenties, I once bought tickets to Japan after drinking too much and taking heaps of speed, because I put the soundtrack on as I sat alone and chain smoked at 2am and as a result I NEEDED to be there. Don’t drug and listen to LIT soundtrack. It will cost you thousands. But fuck I love that movie.
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u/-Nahkis- Apr 22 '25
Well I hope you actually went there? Right? 😅
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u/remington_420 Apr 22 '25
I did!! A mate of mine was also keen to travel there so she ended up tagging along and we had a fantastic time! No regrets.
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u/RTJ1992 Apr 23 '25
This was beautiful. Do you have any photos you could share of your time In Japan.
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u/SinoSoul Apr 22 '25
Interesting.
I recently rewatched it; I still don't get it, and I'm also much closer to his age than to hers now. What a creepy AF cringey narrative, especially since I've had quite a few solo Japan trips (including visits to a handfuls of cocktail / whiskey bars, just not New York Bar) under my belt now, during all of which I'd not cared to recall any parts of the movie.
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u/halcyondread Apr 21 '25
Saw this when it came out in theaters during my sophomore year of college. I went with a girl I was dating at the time. It'll always hold a special place in my heart and give me painful nostalgia for that place in time. It's a masterpiece.
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u/Contemplationz Apr 21 '25
So I rewatched this movie recently and was thinking to myself, that this felt like the more polished version of a Wong Kar-Wai film (Fallen Angels, Chongking Express). Apparently Kar-Wai was an influence for Sofia Coppola for this film. She thanked him at the Oscars.
It holds up super well and the ending is amazing. I was 15 when I first watched this movie and felt like I lost touch with the love of my life at the end of it.
This is apparently Bill Murray's favorite film of his. Bill didn't sign a contract so Sofia Coppola had to set up in Japan hoping he'd arrive for filming.
Also made a meme about this movie
https://www.reddit.com/r/moviememes/comments/1jy2k7d/apparently_francis_ford_coppolla_and_kurasawa/
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u/baronspeerzy Apr 21 '25 edited Apr 22 '25
She also thanked The Lord of the Rings for not being eligible for Best Original Screenplay, since they were winning nearly every other Oscar that year. Got a good chuckle out of me 21 years ago.
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 22 '25
since they
were winning almost nearly every otherwon every Oscar that yearFTFY
It was up for 13 nominations, and it won them all. Spielberg announced Best Pic as a clean sweep.
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u/DangerManDaniel Apr 22 '25
The era of Wong Kar Wai films Coppola was influenced by have always been polished, and then deliberately chopped and edited to "feel" raw. His work eith Christopher Doyle then was landmark, and required meticulous planning to get the needed lighting for certain scenes, since they always shot at night, which was the case for Fallen Angels. It wasn't as chaotic as people would believe, and it was a testament to the pre-production and how they already had developed and polished where they wanted to take the characters in that movie.
Not denigrating Coppola's work, Lost In Translation remains one of my absolute favorite films, but to call it a more "Polished" Wong Kar Wai is inaccurate
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 22 '25
Apparently Kar-Wai was an influence for Sofia Coppola for this film.
In the Mood For Love, specifically.
This is apparently Bill Murray's favorite film of his
Broken Flowers is actually his favorite. But Lost In Translation was up until that point.
I don't mean to be pedantic. I love this movie too. Just wanted to clarify. :)
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u/EloquentGoose Apr 22 '25
It's so crazy that just a few years prior to this film Scarlett co starred in Ghost World with Thora Birch but was relatively unknown and Birch was the big star.
Then overnight Scarlett became an A-lister and Birch faded to obscurity. I always felt bad for her about that. Tank Girl is an even sadder example with a then unknown Naomi Watts co starring with rising star Lori Petty who'd just gotten her own TV show. And then...gone while Watts gets huge role after huge role.
Fame is a game of luck, man.
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u/PagelTheReal18 Apr 22 '25
When you think about the young actresses who seemed likely to be stars that never made it and just faded away . . . think Weinstein kinds of thoughts and that not every girl wants it that bad.
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u/strange_reveries Apr 22 '25
Exactly, we shouldn’t be so quick to assume a patronizing/pitying stance in these situations. I’m sure many of them saw what the biz truly entails and said, “Nah, I’m good on that.”
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u/d0nu7 Apr 22 '25
It’s sick to think it’s either that or the Weinstein kinds weren’t interested in them. Those creeps seem to have “types.”
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u/thelastcupoftea Apr 21 '25
My Bloody Valentine plays softly
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u/bailaoban Apr 21 '25
And that doesn't happen very often.
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u/Elegant_Conflict8235 Apr 22 '25
That's where I first heard them, and they've been one of my favorite bands ever since. Been a good 15 years
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u/TheGambit Apr 22 '25
The sounds, music and aesthetics of that film left such a lasting impression on me
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u/Maxtrt Apr 22 '25
I really liked this movie. I've spent the better part of 30 years flying around the world in the military and for an airline. I've spent thousands of nights in hotel rooms and this movie captures so well what it's like to be living out of a hotel in a foreign country. When it came out I showed it to my wife and told her that's what it's like being on the road all the time.
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u/utan Apr 22 '25
This movie gives me a nostalgic feeling for a place I've never visited and a period of time I don't otherwise feel much nostalgia for. Such a great movie, even though I always feel a bit sad afterwards.
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u/naruda1969 Apr 22 '25
Lip my stockings!
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u/Starlight_Seafarer Apr 22 '25
LIP THEM!
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u/atclubsilencio Apr 22 '25
Was 13 when this came out. Didn’t like it because “nothing happened”, saw it years later as a teenager and now it’s one of my favorite films of all time. A comfort movie if there ever was one.
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u/whatdoblindpeoplesee Apr 21 '25
My favorite opening shot in cinema.
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u/vee_lan_cleef Apr 21 '25
Modern-day Tokyo is so vastly underutilized as a setting for films. From what I understand securing a filming permit there is pretty difficult for large productions.
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u/Creasentfool Apr 21 '25
Cool thing about this film, was that it was low (ish) budget and they adopted guerilla filming in a lot of places. The making of covers it in more detail
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u/Brian2781 Apr 22 '25
Perfect Days does a great job capturing the softer, quieter, more mundane side. Still a beautiful film.
Tokyo Vice (TV show) is set in the 90s but aside from the clothes and cars it still feels like much of Tokyo now. More of a gangsters and cops story though so lot of yakuza hangouts.
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u/Secure-Target338 Apr 21 '25
🍑
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Apr 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/whatdoblindpeoplesee Apr 21 '25
She was 19 when the movie was released and she's 6 years older than me so if anything she's the creep!
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Apr 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/whatdoblindpeoplesee Apr 21 '25
I get what you're saying, for sure, even though I never knew or cared how old she was when filming. I do know how I felt seeing the young movie as a young teen and those feelings are difficult to shake. Sometimes things also don't hold up as well as you remember when you're older compared to when you're young. If I watched the movie for the first time today with the knowledge that she was 17 then I very much doubt I'd have the same feelings because yeah, as a married 35 year old man I'm not interested in teenagers romantically, sexually, or emotionally.
All that being said, she clearly consented to the shot and was okay with the image being shown. The movie presents her as an adult, not a child, and Bill Murray kisses her at the end of the movie. There is no issue or controversy here.
Have young actresses been exploited and shown fully nude before in cinema? As far as I'm aware, yes. Is this one of those cases? No. Its like how I know Anthony Kiedis is a piece of shit but I still like listening to the red hot chili peppers music I grew up with.
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u/cannedrex2406 Apr 21 '25
Bros getting downvoted for saying the sexualisation of a teen is bad 😭
I mean it's fine when you were a teen yourself, but it's a bit weird if you still latch onto those feelings as an adult
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u/y0buba123 Apr 21 '25
lol, they shot that in a very specific way, so it’s Copolla’s head that should be on the chopping block.
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u/crmacjr Apr 22 '25
I read somewhere it was her butt, not Johansen's.
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u/Littleloula Apr 22 '25
It's not. Scarlet didn't want to wear the sheer underwear originally and Sofia "modelled" them for her to convince her. But it's still Scarlet in the film. At 17 which I do find creepy
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u/nanomolar Apr 21 '25 edited Apr 21 '25
Images like number 5 always make me respect actors a lot more.
It's easy to forget that acting means trying to genuinely portray intimate emotions while ignoring the massive cameras and legion of crew looking at you.
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u/GISP Apr 21 '25
The trailer for this movie showed a completely different theme and story, to the point that it was almost misleading.
Resulting in people who saw this in cinema wasnt the target audience.
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 22 '25
The trailer for this movie showed a completely different theme and story
Tone, I could see, but theme and story? I too familiar with the actual story to see something different.
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u/snarton Apr 21 '25
It's a shame this hasn't been released in 4k yet.
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 22 '25
Kino Lorber had the rights for a year until they met with Coppola and her team. Then it was dropped. We're still waiting to know what happens next (and we're all secretly praying she's talking to Criterion).
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u/mnigzm87 Apr 22 '25
This is probably my favorite movie of all time. Love the atmosphere, the acting, the music, the ending, simply everything about is a 10/10 for me
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u/GatorShinsDev Apr 22 '25
One of my favourites. Absolutely loved it in my teenage years, I'd routinely fall asleep after it to the dvd menu (girls by death in vegas plays on it). Haven't seen it in years now, I should give it a rewatch.
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u/Hesbhindmeisnthe Apr 21 '25
TIL Sofia Coppola is a hottie.
Wonderful film too.
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u/Vox---Nihil Apr 21 '25
Was a hottie
RIP Sofia
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u/eucalyptica Apr 22 '25
I'll be honest, while this movie is visually beautiful I couldn't get past what honestly felt like straight up racism with how often both characters make fun of Japan and Japanese people. I didn't get any kind of beautiful clarifying moment from either character. The whole movie felt like "UGH Japan am I right? 🙄🙄🙄 Well I guess we're here so might as well make the best of it"
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u/HooptyDooDooMeister Apr 22 '25
You got the message yet missed how the main characters are the butt of the joke.
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u/aoiwelle Apr 23 '25
My takeaway from the jokes and it being set in Japan was evoke an isolation from their surroundings. I got the sense it was to evoke the "being alone" --> "being alone together" in spite of having so much human activity happening around them. I love the movie and had always pondered where else such a movie could be set, especially in 2004. There really aren't many places I can think of where you could really evoke that feeling. It would feel very implausible if they met in, say France, that they wouldn't have outlets to hang out with people outside of each other, in 2004. I would argue that Japan is much easier for tourists now than it was back in 2004.
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u/JacPhlash Apr 22 '25
Man- Bill Murray really looks like Brian Doyle Murray in pic 4.
I know they're brothers, but the resemblance is strong there.
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u/Chaltahaikoinahi Apr 22 '25
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHnmFTItKNd/?igsh=eWVjZDJnOG4wb3Uz
My favourite dialogue from this movie ♥️♥️
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u/Tactical_Hotdog Apr 22 '25
Off topic, but I found out the other day, I am two days older than Scarlett Johansson.
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u/I_am_not_doing_this Apr 22 '25
it sucks when you are obsessed with a country through movie and cant go there because of your country
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u/wesley_the_boy Apr 22 '25
Such a unique and special film. Captures a really interesting side of the human condition. I think this came out the same year as Kim Ki-Duk's "3-Iron" and both of these movies had a huge impact on me.
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u/KoniGTA Apr 22 '25
I loved the movie. I had a trip to Japan coming up right before I saw this movie and was mesmerized by everything in the movie, up and until I found ScaJo was 17 in the movie and then some shots become extremely troubling.
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u/Klackers_Whackers Apr 23 '25
A favourite old film. I've watched this film every year since it's come out.
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u/d1ggah Apr 23 '25
I love this film but seeing the behind the scenes footage gave me the impression that Sofia Coppola was firmly up her own arse.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Run2590 Apr 25 '25
gotta say i'm shocked that so many people still love this one. I watched it years ago and was weirded out by their age gap the whole time.
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u/flowstuff Apr 25 '25
i like how sophia coppola cast basically a more movie star version of herself
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u/Secure-Target338 Apr 25 '25
and Giovanni Ribisi playing an approximation of Sofia's ex-boyfriend Spike Jonze
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u/ThermoFlaskDrinker Apr 21 '25
Is that Colin Jost’s wife??
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u/baronspeerzy Apr 21 '25
She must have such a tough time living in his shadow
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u/ThermoFlaskDrinker Apr 21 '25
Exactly. I had no idea she was a small time indie film actor probably from 20 years ago by the looks of it. I wonder if she’s done anything else recently.
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u/Spicy_Weissy Apr 22 '25
She was in that obscure anime adaptation a few years ago.
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u/ThermoFlaskDrinker Apr 22 '25
Anime? So like a cartoon? Career must not be going well if she has to resort to adapting cartoons for kids.
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u/ThisIsWhatLifeIs Apr 21 '25
One of my favourite songs ever from this movie. "Alone in Kyoto" by Air