Suntory Celebrates 100th Anniversary With Tribute Film Directed By Sofia Coppola
By Nicole Rodrigues, 29 May 2023

In 2003, Sofia Coppola gave us an iconic piece of cinema history with her comedy-drama Lost in Translation. A film centered around romance, losing and finding oneself, Tokyo, and of course, Suntory whisky. Now, Coppola and Suntory are back together to celebrate the liquor’s 100th anniversary.
Suntory and the Coppolas share a history outside the famed 2003 film. Francis Ford Coppola, Coppola’s father, first did an advertisement with the company in 1980.
The new spot starts with Keanu Reeves—a star of a few Suntory adverts in the 1990s—heading through the electric streets of Tokyo on a night out. He finds a group of his friends, and they tuck into some of the brand’s whisky before the scene changes as a moody montage of Suntory’s history and Japanese pop culture meld together over Joan Jett’s rendition of Crimson & Clover.
And hidden within the aesthetic retelling of the whisky company’s advertisements over the last 100 years is a shot of Reeves from the 90s and Bill Murray, right on the cusp of saying his famous line: “For relaxing times, make it Suntory Time.”
The campaign video isn’t the only way Suntory celebrates its centennial with the Coppolas. Roman Coppola, Coppola’s brother, is set to make a docu-series about the last 100 years of the brand with Reeves.
[via Muse by Clio and IndieWire, screenshot via The House of Suntory]