Title: SOMEWHERE (2010)
Magic exists in movies, in variable forms. Even within a directors oeuvre. While she covers some of the same ground in "Lost in Translation", the magic of "Somewhere", swells differently. Long languid shots without much dialogue, much like it's character, the film is searching something, even for a moment of true clarity. We often think of all the glitz and glamor that come with celebrity. In recent years, and the blur of the internet, we've come to see their raw and exposed side for their darker moments. What gets left on the floor, is their life. Sometimes without answers, often without meaning, even to themselves, they exist, not for themselves, but some innate drive. Until the time comes, that they, or someone else, put them out to pasture.
Stephen Dorff excels at the thankless task of showing people that he can actually act. Restrained, soulful, and lost, Dorff takes one of the finer qualities of an actor and puts it on display. The ability to convey what one is thinking, without telling you, directly to your face. Things take an upturn of sorts, possibly for the better when his 11 year old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) spends sometime with him, after his ex-wife decides she needs to "take sometime" for herself.
The greatest thing a film can do, is make it seem as if nothing is happening. No lessons learned, no grand standing, no action beats, no promises of getting better. Not everything is fixed in the confines of a movie. Often you get a slice of life. Some insight to the goings on of a person, and just when you think you know where things or going, or you start to care, or wonder "what if?".....the screen fades to black. To me the films i enjoy, or more so respect, are the ones I find myself thinking of days latter. This shot. This look. This piece of music. This line. A director can be respected for giving it their all, even if they fall short. You can applaud them. Too many times, do people feel that everything they do has to have a huge monetary groundswell. Just because you made a lot of money, you did good. In a sense, just because it was successful, doesn't mean you succeed.
The movie itself is hard to fit into a traditional review. Certainly it can be said that it's "love it or hate it" kind of film. It's a film you have to see and experience what it does to you. Not everyone will feel something, lot's will simply find themselves annoyed or bored. It's a special kind of movie that, no matter what, you have some feeling towards it, good or bad, ambivalence doesn't enter into this equation. The synopsis? Short and simple. Dorff is an actor inbetween projects after his latest film. He spends his time in a well known Hollywood hotel, drinking, eating, falling asleep to twin pole-dancers in his room, sleeping with anyone who comes his way. He brakes his wrist foolishly. Spends time with his daughter before she goes, taking her to italy for the opening of his movie and an award ceremony. There may be growth, there may be acceptance.
Regardless of what you feel about the movie, no one can fault Sofia Coppola for her determination as a female director, to make the kind of film she wants,without compromising a thing. Certainly a trait she got from her father,propelling him to much success, and one can only hope she passes down, to the next generation.
****1/2 out of *****
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