(and here i am stating a should-be understood fact: sofia coppola is my favorite director of all time. so if i glorify her a little. well, it's because i think she's glorious.)
...maybe that makes me a plotless aesthetics whore.
but i still loved somewhere, in all its static glory.
first of all, it stars this guy (ok. i can call him by his name. stephen dorff.) who is incredibly watchable. and also elle fanning, who i think is incredibly cool. basic plot: stephen dorff is an actor who lives in circles. he goes to parties, he drinks, he pays strippers to dance for him, he passes out. but he has this amazing redeeming quality: his daughter (fanning. duh.)
...maybe that makes me a plotless aesthetics whore.
but i still loved somewhere, in all its static glory.
first of all, it stars this guy (ok. i can call him by his name. stephen dorff.) who is incredibly watchable. and also elle fanning, who i think is incredibly cool. basic plot: stephen dorff is an actor who lives in circles. he goes to parties, he drinks, he pays strippers to dance for him, he passes out. but he has this amazing redeeming quality: his daughter (fanning. duh.)
so yes, it starts with a nearly ten minute long shot of a car driving around a track. but it's obviously a METAPHOR!!!!!!! johnny marco (stephen dorff's character) is just "somewhere". and yes, for a 97 minute movie, it has less action than that pixar short of the old man playing chess against himself. and yes, it is slow. but slow means gentle and subtle and meaningful and (this word again? ag) poignant. and poignant means true.
so yeah, coppola is more concerned with mood than plot. but the thing i love about her is this slice of life postmodernity because in the real live world plot doesn't always matter.
(i wish i could describe the brilliant, quiet humor in the stripper scenes to someone who hasn't seen the movie.)
on another note: elle fanning's clothes in it. they're so cute. her stripey shirts, her cutoffs, her fancier goingplaceswithmyfamousdad dresses, her cool yellow backpack/purse! sent me giddily to the thirteen year old girl section of my closet.
this is not a spoiler (though it does occur near the end). because plot plays second fiddle, i don't think somewhere can be spoilt. but my favorite scene of all was the underwater tea party scene, which can be seen briefly in the trailer. to me, if you find nothing else about this film appealing, that scene makes it all worthwhile.
also, the soundtrack is charming. the trailer song is my favorite: i'll try anything once by the strokes.
oh, and in the vein of 40s prison movies: this movie is a classic.
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