SomewhereDirector: Sofia CoppolaYear: 2010Plot Summary: A hard living Hollywood star is forced to re-examine his life when his 11 year old daughter turns up on his doorstep.Sofia Coppola's movie is one that causes a strange response in the viewer; it is both wonderful and disappointing at exactly the same time. After all, it's hard to deny that Somewhere is a work of high-art that confirms Coppola as a master behind the camera, but it's also something of low entertainment leaving you cold, emotionless and frankly a little bored.
The first 45 to 50 minutes of Somewhere places you right in the directionless, empty life of Johnny Marco, an action movie star who has been living at the infamous L.A. hotel, Chataux Maumont on Sunset Boulevard. He sleeps with women almost every night, poses for photographs, attends parties and drinks constantly.
Like Marco, this opening half of the movie is monotonous, emotionally distant and repetitive. There are two three-minute long shots of Marco as he watches pole dancers glumly in his room, for example, and a scene in which the camera slowly pushes in on him with a prosthetic mask that lasts at least two minutes. I don't doubt for a second that this is a creative decision on Coppola's part and one that is commendably brave. But it also makes for little entertainment.
Similarly, Marco doesn't have a shed of likableness for this entire segment of Somewhere. He is selfish, detached and totally apathetic making Coppola's movie so disengaging that it's tough to endure.
It's only in the last half that a story begins to form instead of just placing us in the life of Johnny Marco. It's during this period that Johnny's daughter, Clio, becomes a prominent part of the narrative after her mother leaves her with him for a few weeks. It's also at this point that Somewhere really picks up as she adds a much needed warmth and emotional engagement to the story. Next to Marco, she slowly brings out a side to him that we didn't even see a glimmer of before and the audience, therefore, even begin to side with him.
Sofia Coppola's imagery throughout Somewhere is very powerful. The opening shot of Marco as he drives around and around and around a race track going nowhere is a terrific metaphor that introduces us to the story, for example, while a shot of him as he watches a documentary of Gandhi deliberating on his desire to do something important with his life is surprisingly moving. Still, a huge problem that Somewhere has is that the imagery, though amazing, is just a repetition of one another. By half an hour in you almost want to scream "We get it, Sofia!" at the cinema screen.
This is clearly a very personal movie to the Lost In Translation director and daughter of legendary film-maker Francis Ford. You can see a lot of her in both Clio and Marco as she gives a terrific insight into the tribulations that come with celebrity and recognition. It's also a movie that shows her mastery and confirms that she is a terrific artist. Nevertheless, Somewhere brings me back to a quote I heard from Mike Leigh earlier this year: "Above anything else, film should be entertainment." And this provides only little.
3/5
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