Lost in Translation (2003)

Country: USA
Director: Sofia Coppola
Screenwriter: Sofia Coppola
Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris

First off, how can you not love Bill Murray? The comedy legend could do a mime routine and still leave us in stitches, thanks to his uncanny ability to derive laughs out of stares, raised eyebrows, and indifference.

Which all plays greatly into Sofia Coppola's unconventional romantic comedy Lost in Translation, starring Murray as a disenchanted actor making ends meet by working in Japanese commercials. His disillusionment its matched by that of an unhappily married, younger woman (Scarlett Johansson) he meets at a hotel bar.

Budding butterfly-in-stomach feelings emerge, but Coppola, who also wrote the script, steers clear of cheesy sentiments, instead grounding the hypnotic Lost In Translation in fine-tuned subtlety. —MB