I'm going to do informal reviews from now on. Mentioning somethings I liked about the movie and the director/actors etc.I watched the film New York, I Love You a few months back. This movie includes 7 or 8 random short films that take place and intertwine in New York City. One of the short films shows a father and his son having a conversation about life and love as they walk through central park. After watching this I got the idea in my head to write a screenplay about the relationship between and father and his son/daughter. I was planning to write this script for months, trying to get motivation in anyway I could. Before I could sit down and get started I stumbled upon a trailer for Sofia Coppolas new film Somewhere. After seeing the preview for Somewhere I didn't know if I still wanted to write this script, but now I was obsessed with seeing this movie.
Somewhere is about a well established nearly middle aged actor played by Stephen Dorff. In the beginning, Dorff's character falls asleep as a pair of twins dance on stripper poles in his hotel room. What a way to introduce a character; he pays the girls to come to his room and he falls asleep half way through. Obviously beautiful woman don't excite him much, and money can't be an issue if he spends it this way. What else can we tell, he's probably single and lonely. Not the best role model at this point.
Now we meet Dakota Fanning's little sister Elle, a little girl that I had only seen in one other film (Phoebe in Wonderland). Elle Fanning is a wonderful young actress, and a great casting in this movie. In the film Dorff's ex drops off Fanning at the hotel, and let's him know she is leaving for an unknown period of time. He must take care of her until she leaves for summer camp. Dorff and Fanning have great chemistry. She is not oblivious to her dads rock star lifestyle, but acts like she doesn't notice. Except at breakfast one morning when Cleo is forced to make small talk with a strange woman that stayed overnight. She reacts to this by coldly glaring at her father, and Dorff reacts by not doing it again.
The first thing I really loved about this movie was the relationship between Dorff and Fanning. It was so genuine. He is put into a situation that's not normal for him. Where he has to take care of a girl he knows almost nothing about. It kind of hard to watch, thinking he's going to mess up this little girls life, but he never does. Even though he treats women like shit, and lives a carefree cavalier lifestyle. He is a good dad, maybe even a great one. He treats his daughter like a princess, and it's beautiful to watch. Sofia finds a healthy middle-ground when telling us about these characters. She gives every scene a lifelike awkwardness, along with a blissful feeling I can't really describe. I couldn't help but grin in the hotel lobby when she fell asleep on her father's shoulder, and I bet nobody else could either.
Marco's character is fascinating by his dullness. He has no personality and few words to say. He's not an opinionated or an angry person. Look at any scene in the movie where somebody is interviewing him or asking him questions. Every answer is simple and uninspired. Even when his former flame tells him off during a photo shoot, Marco stands there and takes the shots. My theory is that after living that lifestyle for so long, Marco has become what he calls 'nothing'. He is told where to go everyday by his assistants. He is told what to say by his publicist. If he needs food the hotel will bring it up. He has no shortage of women. He doesn't even have to think, he thoughts might as well be given to him. He has lost his personality. And it could have stayed that way forever, that is until his daughter shows up at his doorstep and gives him a jolt to the heart.
The other thing I loved about Somewhere was a new technique (as far as I know) the director uses in the film. She does it maybe 3 times. Coppola introduces a scene and leaves the camera on one the characters for maybe a minute. They don't talk or move much. She sets up the shot and leaves you sitting there waiting for the transition to the next scene. If you are paying attention to the movie when she does this. You sit there and think about what is going on. Think about the characters, how we got there. You begin to get stressed out, wondering why are we still watching this. It kind of pissed me off at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. When you watch movies you see all the important stuff, only the scenes with relevance to the story. All they do is sit there motionless, and we wonder what they are thinking. I felt like I was at the pool looking over at this father and daughter, it made me feel like I was there.
I've now seen Lost in Translation and Somewhere. Coppola's work isn't normally appreciated by the blue collar movie goer, and even I thought Lost in Translation was a bit boring, but this movie was fantastic. It's exactly what I wanted. I haven't met anybody else who's watched it yet, but I'm interested to see what other people think.
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