Sometimes it’s hard to understand all the hate for Sofia Coppola. Yes, she ruined Godfather III. Yes, her father has more talent in his pinkie than she in her entire body. Yes, she has a silver spoon implanted squarely in her mouth thanks to Daddy.
OK, so maybe it’s not that hard to understand all the vitriol. And her latest effort, Somewhere, will only add fuel to that fire.
Stephen Dorff stars as Johnny Marco, a wealthy and successful movie star in the Brad Pitt mold who’s floating through life with alcohol, pills and lots of strippers as his main companions. He’s bored, depressed and not quite sure what to do with his life and its fame — a tedium that Coppola goes to extraordinary lengths to display in the first half of the movie, which is mainly devoid of dialogue and so contemplative it may turn many off.
Marco’s routine changes when his ex-wife leaves his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) on his doorstep and takes off, leaving him with a daughter he loves but barely knows. As she tags along on a premiere trip to Italy and through his meandering daily life, Johnny starts not only to connect with Cleo, but also to reconnect with himself.
The plot sounds incredibly formulaic, but Coppola manages at least effectively to show a father/daughter bond. She also does a competent job of showing Marco’s disconnect with celebrity and detachment from feeling he’s leading a meaningful life.
Coppola’s own experience with such a situation is a bonus — Somewhere is a blatantly obvious retelling of Sofia’s childhood and relationship with her father, Francis, who was in the middle of directing the first two Godfather films and Apocalypse Now during her early childhood.
But the film is a little too impersonal for the audience because they don’t know what it’s like to have a famous father. The “fame isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be” theme falls short (hard to feel sorry for the well-off). While Coppola does a nice job of juxtaposing the boredom of Johnny’s life with a low-key, hands-off style, boring the audience isn’t something for which a director should strive.
On the plus side, Coppola bookends the film with “Love Like a Sunset” from hubby Thomas Mars’ band Phoenix, a beautiful song that at least starts and ends the film with a flourish.
But a song isn’t enough to overcome a mind-numbing movie, and with Somewhere, Sofia Coppola has (again) used all her connections, privilege and creative freedom to go nowhere.
Cameron Dunbar is a sophomore studying journalism. Is he just an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill? Say so at cd211209@ohiou.edu.
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