Venice Film Festival 2010 winner, from fantastic writer/director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette). A small-scale story set in Los Angeles about Johnny (Stephen Dorff, Public Enemies), a hard-living Hollywood actor stumbling through a life of excess, living it up at the infamous Chateau Marmont Hotel. With an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning, Dakota Fanning's sister), Johnny is forced to reevaluate.
Also stars Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Robert Schwartzman (Jason Schwartzman's brother) and music by French band, Phoenix.
Sofia Coppola obviously knows the loneliness of wealth and privilege, her best expressions of it being Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. In Somewhere, (which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival) she sticks to another small but extreme world, painting a telling and occasionally tedious morality tale about the pitfalls of such aspirations. This time she follows a film star (Stephen Dorff) living at LA's Chateau Marmont whose habit for fast cars and easy women has, lo and behold, not led to happiness. His only enriching experiences appear to be his relationship with daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning).
Coppola masterfully creates an atmosphere of emptiness and ennui, whether it's a pregnant pause of the camera over a rumpled Stephen Dorff (as Johnny Marco) slumped on his couch, the lonely roar of his gear-shifts as he drives solo around LA or his grudging endurance of ridiculous press interviews. Stylistically at least, Coppola lets the truth of the situation tell itself.
It's not hard to imagine Coppola as Cleo, the little girl growing up in her father's lavish world, seemingly unaffected, and the preternaturally mature Fanning is a stand-out in the role. There are many endearing scenes as the pair's friendship flourishes. But if Coppola meant to make a commentary on the trappings of fame she needn't have written the main character as such a victim. Most people could tell you that living in a hotel, trying to fill the void with pole-dancing girls and a Ferrari does not amount to internal wealth. The guy is apparently a demi-god but his damaged soul is his own doing. Which makes it hard to feel sorry for him.
By Rebecca Barry Hill, Flicks.co.nz
I think the director must think we a all a bunch of idiots to have to spend almost 2 hours trying to get a message across which was received within the first 2 minutes of the film. The rest was just repetitive innuendo. Please if you are an intelligent individual dont waste your time or money unless you are happy to walk out within the first 2 minutes.
Slow and meditative is a very kind way of saying boring. I have just seen this film with a full cinema of mixed ages and most of us would have asked for our money back - it was that unenjoyable. Come on Sofia you can do better and Venice what were you thinking - a Golden Lion!!!!
Like all of Sofia Coppola's films, this is meditative (ie: slowish) and observational. I can see how some wouldn't like it, but it's a breath of fresh air compared to what else is about. I thought it was very beautiful and interesting through out.
Sofia Coppola returns to the daddy-daughter theme but audiences are likely to be left bemused or exasperated...
Coppola stays close to the details and innuendoes of the story, making every shot count. With lots of fixed-frame shots and occasionally playing out scenes in real time, the film has a relaxed indie rhythm and laid-back style that mimics the way young Hollywood actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) coasts through life.
Lost in Los Angeles.
A quiet heartbreaker. Trading "Lost in Translation's" Tokyo hotel for Beverly Hills' Chateau Marmont, the ever-perceptive writer-director further hones her gifts for ruefully funny observation and understated melancholy with this low-key portrait of a burned-out screen actor...
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 16th Dec 2010.
Release date: December 16th 2010.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
