Somewhere (sofia coppola)

[polkablues]

The problem with this movie is that, even if it's great, we'll then have to deal with the inevitable Stephen Dorff Renaissance for the next couple years.  He'll get a string of roles in shitty bigger-budget movies, all the parts that RDJ would fire his agent for and Aaron Eckhart has to back out of because of scheduling conflicts; he'll be cast in a period piece in which he is entirely unbelievable for the period (fingers crossed for Victorian England); he'll make a romantic comedy with some combination of Witherspoons, Barrymores, Garners, or McAdamses; and gradually he'll revert back to lower budgets and limiteder releases until one day he's the second male lead in a movie about giant bugs that premieres on the Syfy network.  If he's lucky, five years down the line he'll replace David Caruso on CSI: Miami.  If he's really lucky, the word "Dorff" will end up on the Urban Dictionary as a slang term for some sort of arcane sexual act, and his memory will live on forever that way.  Realistically, that's the best he could hope for.

[modage]

from my blog:

Somewhere is a film of sparseness and excess.  Stephen Dorff plays Johnny Marco, an actor drifting through life at the Chateau Marmont, whose self centered existence is interrupted when confronted with having to take care of his 11 year old daughter.  The first thing that may strike you watching the trailer, (other than it being unmistakably a Sofia Coppola film), is that there is almost no dialogue.  You'd think this is just an artful teaser but it's actually fairly representative of the film.

The photography is beautiful but there are some shots that go on way too long.  The opening features Dorff driving his car around a race track.  After 2 or 3 rounds I had gotten all I needed from that scene but the car proceeded to go around 4 more times.  There are a handful of moments like this in the film that go beyond a leisurely pace and really just call attention to themselves.  Not that they're even boring, just that you start to wonder why the film is drawing so much attention to them when it could have easily cut each shot in half and acheived the same effect.

The film doesn't have the typical structure you might expect from a more commercial film.  I had expected Dorff's character to be more of a "bad" guy, or at least "bad dad" who gets reformed by his daughter, conventional arc satisfied.  But that's not what happens.  Dorff's character is self-involved, but not a bad guy at all.  He's good with his daughter and generally pretty nice to most people.  Elle Fanning is great in the film, (though it's hard to believe she's only 11), and the two have a good father/daughter chemistry that really anchors the film.

Towards the end, I kept thinking that every shot might be the last one.  Because the film steered so far away from clichés I hadn't expected any grand emotional resolutions at the end.  So I was surprised when there were a few moments that attempted some catharsis, and disappointed when they fell flat.  I still love Sofia Coppola, but have found with her last two films you have to take the good with the bad.

[john]

Well, I hope you at least talked your girl into doing things she's never done before.

At least True Grit opens next week.

[polkablues]

Well, I hope you at least talked your girl into doing things she's never done before.

What, like bungee jumping?

[Stefen]

haha oh no! Should have gone with TRUE GRIT! Don't ever take my advice. 

I still want to see it but Mod's review kind of confirmed what I was scared of. Sofia Coppola is a limited filmmaker.  

[modage]

She's still capable of capturing some beautiful moments, but man she seems a little lost as a storyteller.  Apparently the script was only 48 pages and it kinda shows.  Maybe it's time for another adaptation?

[Stefen]

This was really boring. Nothing really happens. Scenes go on way too long and nothing really happens in them. I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for this big time actor who is living at the Chateau Marmont, but really, what's there to feel sorry for him about? It wasn't good and it wasn't bad, it was just boring. Also I couldn't tell if the dude from Jackass was seriously retarded or if he was just trying to molest Johnny's daughter. What was his problem? Every scene with him and the little girl together was way creepy. There were a few good scenes, but overall, it was just a pointless movie.

[john]

Yeah, Pontius was incredibly distracting.

Occasionally, there were moments that were unexpectedly affecting - especially considering how obnoxious they sound when described (ex: Dorff and his daughter sitting poolside, quietly, scored by The Strokes' "I'll Try Anything Once".) Some moments were far too slight to be affecting, and some missed the mark entirely (that final scene reminded me of some shit I'd write in high school thinking I was being particularly poignant.)

I was really reserved about not seeing this in a proper movie theater, thinking it would be a disservice to the film. Ultimately, I'm glad I didn't. This was also the first time I felt noticeably unimpressed by Savides' cinematography. Strange, considering how much he seems to contribute to a films aesthetic beauty, and how much Coppola likes to ape the abilities of people more talented than she is.

Fuck, I dunno. Maybe I should have seen it in a theater, but judging from Mod's impressions, I don't think my opinion would have changed much.

or sees a Sofia Coppola movie in theaters?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess Stefen didn't see this in a theater, either.

[tpfkabi]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/somewhere_2010/news/1921559/five_favorite_films_with_sofia_coppola/

Talk about Somewhere and 5 Favorite Films - Dorff also has an earlier entry.

[Stefen]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess Stefen didn't see this in a theater, either.

lol. I didn't. But this is the only one I saw at home. Usually I see everything at home, but this year I've gone to the cinema more times than I have my whole life. We have a chain theater here that dedicates two screens to art house fare, so that's been really great.

[Pas]

I watched Somewhere with my last megabites of december so I had to push back on The Town. You can imagine how pissed I was of my decision. Thankfully the Town's eventual awesomeness compensated largely this turd's boringness. It is the anti-Blindside really. The kind of person who feels sorry for Dorf's character is kinda sickening. At least pretty insensitive to haiti.

I bough the bluray of the good one so don't go calling me pirate.

[Stefen]

Last megabytes of December?

[Pas]

I was on a limited 30gb plan

[Stefen]

Oh wow. How does that work? I can't imagine ever having to watch my bandwidth usage.

[Pas]

I'm now on a 100gb combined... Unlimited doesn't exist in the town I moved in. I bought a seedbox to save on upload usage but still... On my old plan, it was 1$ per gb over 30 lol can you imagine! Now it's 5$ for 30gb extra, not too bad.

Ps: Policemen reading this, I bought like 15 blu rays this month, so, piss off