Elle Fanning - Cleo
Sophia Coppola (Director)
This should be my shortest review ever. My reviews are filled with descriptions of what the films are about, the performances, the films place in history, the technical aspects of the movie making, ect. Somewhere has almost none of these characteristics.
The movie opens with Dorff driving his car around in circles. A metaphor for his life and for this film. This scene is all one shot. If when watching this shot you find it intriguing or stimulating then I would say you are going to love this movie. If you find it pointless and boring then you are going to side with me.
While watching this movie I thought of a concept for a game show. Celebrity Cabin Fever. The first third (I won't say first act because that would infer that this film had some type of structure or narrative) is simply about Dorff as a upper B list actor passing the time. He doesn't really "do" anything. He watches strippers, he opens the mail, he mingles at a party. You know the expression "I'd listen to him read the phone book"? That scene could have been in this film. After that we are introduced to his estranged daughter, Cleo.
He isn't necessarily a bad father, he is just self absorbed. When they are together they hang out, spend time together, chill. Again, nothing really "happens". I kept wondering if I was supposed to be feeling something. That is a bad sign for a movie. Ambiguity is nice, but isolation and distance is not. The nice thing about this movie is that you can put it in the DVD player, go take a shower and brush your teeth and rejoin it in progress and not have missed anything.
I should mention that this is a very well shot film and it looks lush and vibrant. I do like the way Coppola sets up her camera. I just wish she did more with what is is filming. While watching the movie I had plenty of time to let my mind wonder. While my brain was on vacation it was asking "if this movie wasn't made by Hollywood royalty, would anybody give a shit about this movie"?
There is an element of a common theme in Coppola's films. That is the "Stranger in a strange land" aspect. She has done it so much better in all her other films. I love her first film Virgin Suicides. And Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette both tread the same water with lesser success. But here all her destruction of plot has proven to be dismissive and exclusive. If she continues down this path, she will not be far from avant garde film making. One could make an argument that Somewhere is a very polished avant garde film.
Only once is any element of conflict introduced. The mother calls and needs to get away for a while. Dorff is forced to watch Cleo longer than he planned. On a car drive Cleo begin to cry because she feels abandon by here mother. Dorff says "Don't cry" and that is the end of the scene! I was pissed! There is the only moment in the entire film where any emotion other than tedium was shown and it was wasted. Not only that, I was a bit insulted as a father by the implication that an answer like "Don't cry" can resolve a problem as deep as abandonment.
This movie is just as shallow and empty as it's main character. I wanted to scream during the movie "DO SOMETHING!!!" I was speaking to both the people on screen and those behind the camera. Then the movie has the gull to try to get me to sympathize with Dorff. I think that was what it was doing. Why would I care at all about a person that has no motivation or ambitions. If he wants to better his life and make it more fulfilling he has the ability. He is choosing not to. Therefor I could care less about him or this movie.
I will end of a few positive notes. The soundtrack would be great, but I can't find it anywhere online. (maybe that isn't that positive not that I think about it). Also, Chris Pontius of Jackass fame has a small role as a friend of Dorff. He is really natural and he adds a little life to an other wise dud of a film. I give Somewhere ★★.
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