"Effectively balancing humor and subtle pathos, Sofia Coppola crafts a moving, melancholy story that serves as a showcase for both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson" - Rotten Tomatoes
"Sofia Coppola's sophomore film (following the gently assured The Virgin Suicides) is another exploration of delicate relationships and uncommunicated frustrations, this one in a beautifully composed atmosphere of isolation." - Seanax.com
"The vision of Bill Murray singing Roxy Music's More Than This in a karaoke bar will remain with me for a long time. The moment in Sofia Coppola's film is perfectly poised between humour and sadness; a critical balance that characterises the movie."
"Directing from her own script, Coppola leaps from the modest success of her debut, The Virgin Suicides, to this remarkably assured film of two strangers meeting in a strange land and finding sanctuary in their brief encounter."
"The city itself becomes as much a character as Bob and Charlotte, with the jangling tumult of the streets and arcades and the constant buzz of neon creating a soundscape that is alien and mildly unnerving."
"Murray is in his comic element as the wearily bewildered actor, bemused by the Japanese politeness and language. But what makes this his best screen performance are the layers he brings to Bob: a man who loves his children yet seems strangely distanced (metaphorically as well as literally) from his wife. He is adrift but not marooned; vulnerable but emotionally intact."
"Johansson doesn't once strike a false note, expressing intelligence, frustration and vulnerability all at once. From the mischievous opening shot of her derrière in a pair of diaphanous knickers, she is effortlessly luminous and her understated performance is perfectly attuned to Murray's superb study of a man wrapped in Cellophane cynicism."
"A marvellous, exquisite movie, Lost In Translation." - NEIL NORMAN FILM CRITIC, EVENING STANDARD