Somewhere There is a Good Film

Sofia Coppola is considered Hollywood royalty because she was born into a spectacular gene pool. I want to root for her as a writer/director because I am devoted to her Pops and think she is a terrible actress (see the Godfather III). I just wish her films were better.

What drives me crazy is how much the critics kiss her ass. I’m not sure if it is out of fear or misplaced loyalty. I know she has promise because her directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides was incredible. Although she did write the script, it was adapted from a novel so the credit is not all hers. Even so this proves that she does have the talent.

Her follow up critically acclaimed hit, Lost in Translation, is either loved or hated. I am an admitted hater but do give her credit for reviving the career of Bill Murray, one of my favorite comedic actors.

Her latest film, Somewhere, let me down in so many ways. The hardest thing to swallow is that this could have been an incredibly interesting film. This film features one of my favorite overlooked actors, Stephen Dorff. I was hoping this film would revitalize his career. Problem is I don’t think anyone wants to see that much of him. We really don’t need to watch him smoke a cigarette on his balcony staring off into the distance and reflecting for 10 whole minutes.

I get what she was trying to do (pierce the Hollywood bubble) but she is unsuccessful. We get it, Hollywood isn’t all puppy dogs and ice cream. A movie star’s life is a lonely place full of emptiness and alienation. We don’t need to examine Johnny Marco so closely to discover he is a sad excuse for a human being. He lives in a party hotel, sleeps with numerous faceless women, has twin strippers perform absurd pole dance numbers in his room, gets stalking texts from women he’s treated badly, and hardly knows his 11-year-old daughter.

Once he is saddled with the responsibility of taking care of his daughter for a week, we as an audience expect change. We want the character to mature. Unfortunately, when he has his epiphany at the end, he doesn’t really grow up. Thankfully Stephen plays the part to perfection and he is a sweet piece of eye candy because we are looking at him doing nothing for long periods of time. Elle Fanning (Dakota’s little sister) has promise as a talented actress given a role in a film with better character development.

Opening scene:

A lone car drives around an empty road for 5 minutes.

As soon as I saw that opening scene, I realized that this movie would drag. I just didn’t comprehend how much. The movie only runs 97 minutes but certain scenes feel like torture. I felt like I was watching a student film that was going nowhere. Someone needs to teach Sofia how to use Final Cut Pro. I don’t think she edited a single scene. Every shot was too long. Once the story got going, I hoped she would cut some of these shots but no such luck. Certain films can get away with a non-verbal script but not this one. The saddest part is that this could have been a great film with a ton of editing and a little bit of restraint on Ms. Coppola’s part. It has an interesting story and two actors with chemistry. I have now learned my lesson the next movie Sofia puts out will have to wait for video no matter how appealing the cast seems.