Somewhere - the 4th film by Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola is one of my favorite modern directors and 2 of her films I rate in my top 10 (The Virgin Suiciders and Lost In Translation). She has an amazing ability to film space, and silence, and she just has the most amazing ability to make each frame of her films speak....

Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Picture at the 2010 Venice Film Festival, Somewhere is the story of a hard living actor Johnny Marco played by Stephen Dorff (love him) and is primarily set in the Chateau Marmont where he lives. Amidst all the excesses of fame (strippers, parties, premiers, press junkets), he is lonely and bored. Enter his daughter Chloe played to perfection by Ellie Fanning (Dakota's sister), who comes to live with Johnny while her mother is away...

The first half of the film has virtually no dialogue, but you see Johnny's boredom and loneliness in each and every scene. And when Chloe comes into his life albeit for a brief period, we see Johnny transform from the man he is to the man he wants to be.

The film is full of metaphors and borrows heavily from Sofia's own childhood, spending time with her director father Francis Ford Coppola. It shows the beauty and the sadness of this transcient life, and it couldn't have been done better.

I read a review that said that "Sofia Coppola sees things, and we see exactly what she sees". I think this description sums up Sofia's movies perfectly. She paints a picture with each scene, and she doesn't have to fill it with music, or people, or talking, or action. There are scenes in this movie that appear frozen, with the camera panning out for what seems an eternity. You expect something in the frame to move, but nothing does. And yet you see what she is trying to tell you, you can't take your eyes of the screen for a second. Magic.

Stephen Dorff is incredible as Johnny, very understated, pensive, lonely, reflective. Ellie Fanning is gorgeous as his 11 year daughter. You can see the chemistry these 2 actors have, and they must have a wonderful relationship off screen for their relationship to be so natural on screen.

This movie will be boring for some people, I definitely don't think it is for everyone. It's pace is slow, dialogue is sparce, and locations few. But I definitely think that if you believe that film making is an art form, and you like minimalist film making, then this movie will delight you. In my opinion, there are very few artists as talented as Sofia Coppola.

Did I say I loved this movie? :-) I loved this movie. 4 super films from this wonderful director.
4.5/5