Dir: Sofia Coppola Cast: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius
SOMEWHERE
A; DRAMA
Dir: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius
Rating: **
What's it about: Johnny Marco (Dorff) lives the great life of a superstar with such nonchalance that his worldweariness starts bearing down on you. Any other lonely star would make the most of empty experiences. Not Marco. He's content sleeping through private performances by pretty pole-dancing twins. An attractive woman in a bikini tries to catch his attention by taking her top off for him, but he couldn't care less. Heck, the guy even falls asleep between a woman's legs.
Our Mr Rip Van Winkle is a somewhat different man when his daughter Cleo (Elle) is around, though. There are fewer moments of hedonism. He even takes time off from limbo to enjoy the perks of being a star. He watches her skate on ice and smiles proudly, flies to Italy for a vague award, enjoys games of Guitar God on his gaming console, and even shares icecreams with his little girl.
These moments are few and are only accentuated when his ex-wife leaves Cleo around for a longer while than usual. The story is told through the experiences of Coppola, a star child herself.
What's hot: The effort is commendable. Sofia tries to bring to life, the life of a man who has everything and yet ironically, has lost everything, he truly cherishes. Through the medium of Cleo, one would imagine her exorcising her own past as a star child living with a star dad (Francis Ford Coppola, in Sofia's case). Elle is the standout actor in this piece, the sunshine in the otherwise dull premise. For a 11-year-old she comes across as a gal with her head firmly on her shoulders. And that warm smile could really light up the room. With a surprisingly restrained performance, she manages to make quite an impact, lending the film a cheeriness it sorely needs.
What's not: There's something unnerving about watching the screening of a film that is punctuated by several sequences of inaction and repetition (trademark Sofia Coppola techniques). Lingering shots of a stationary subject (Stephen Dorff's Johnny Marco) smiling beatifically or literally dozing his way through life, do not an interesting film make. The film's ending is vague and open-ended, giving it the feel of au00a0 vignette, rather than a feature length film.
What to do: This is decidedly indie fare or (as some would say in layman terms) film festival bulls**t that doesn't really say much or for that matter, demand much. Missable, except for the sparkling act by the other Fanning sister.
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