Somewhere

Sofia Coppola has taken a significant break from filmmaking after 2006's Marie Antoinette, which received mixed reviews, seeming to mostly lean to the negative, but it's not as though she wasn't busy - She started a family in France with her partner, Thomas Mars, lead singer of the french band Phoenix. But, Coppola now returns to the big screen with Somewhere.

The film stars Stephen Dorff as Johnny Marco, an in-demand Hollywood movie star, who spends his time between films living at the infamous Chateau Marmont, a high class hotel on Sunset Boulevard, frequented by movie stars, models, and other movers and shakers. His life is filled with parties, strippers, and Guitar Hero. When his daughter is dropped off by her mother (who's relationship with Marco is never detailed. Were they married? or just together? or even a one night stand?), Marco has to switch into full time parent mode, something he's never had to do before. It's awkward, and he spends his time trying to figure out how to balance the life of a single movie star, a responsible parent, and trying to be "fun". Through this, fairly sudden, time spent with Cleo (played by Elle Fanning), his compass begins to orient itself and he begins to figure out who he really is.

Stephen Dorff is, to me, an odd choice for this role. While his star has shown at various points in time, it seems that there are considerably more men who would be better suited for the role, but Dorff makes you believe he is Johnny Marco, so he's obviously doing something right. Elle Fanning is fantastic as Cleo, a young woman who is cheerful, bright eyed, interested in the world around her, but instinctual about the good and bad that is going on around her. Chris Pontius (of Jackass) shows up as Marco's good buddy, and doesn't seem out of place. Could he be following fellow Jackass alum Johnny Knoxville into acting?

Coppola focuses her lens on some of the everyday moments of Marco, and, while those moments are not representative of 99% of the population (fashion shoots going on down the hall from his suite, traveling to Italy for an awards show, and one hilarious moment when he comes home with Cleo to find a naked woman waiting for him in his bed, asks her to leave, and slips Cleo out for a cheeseburger before the two see each other), she brings to light a world that most of us will never see, and that's what makes Somewhere interesting. Coppola and cinematographer Harris Savides use, mostly, natural lighting to capture the story of father and daughter, and gives the whole film a certain cinematic beauty that is shared with Lance Acord's cinematography in her previous efforts Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette and even Edward Lachman's cinematography in her debut feature The Virgin Suicides.

There's a lot of complaints right now about the fact that the film is very reminiscent of Lost In Translation, which, I won't deny, it can be on a very basic level. But the previous film was more about not being able to communicate with the people around you, and finding friendship with someone regardless of that. This film is about someone finding a greater purpose than themselves. When Marco realizes that living for his daughter means more to him than living for himself, he is on the road to becoming whole again. For those who try to break the two films down to "a Hollywood star in a hotel trying to find himself", I would say that they are looking on the very smallest surface of the two films and, obviously, just didn't get it.

Top 5 of 2010

My picks for Top 5 of 2010 -

1. Inception - Christopher Nolan's post Dark Knight follow up was, from the moment it was even announced, in danger of not being able to come close to living up to its predecessor. And, while Inception is a different beast than The Dark Knight, it not only met those expectations but exceeded them (at least for me). Nolan creates a new and unbelievably amazing world, with mystery and intrigue covering every square inch of the story. Watching the film felt like you were seeing something you had never seen before, and with some of the best actors of this generation, along with a story that feels tighter than a steel trap, Inception just couldn't be beat.

2. Somewhere - Sofia Coppola holds an incredibly special place in my heart. I saw The Virgin Suicides when I was on the fence about going to film school, and it was one of the films that pushed me into going. Somewhere continues Coppola's fascination with watching her characters, giving the audience the sense of being a third person, but very present, observer into the lives of characters that transcend the reputations and any "it" factor her actors may have. Her films have become, increasingly, like fashion shoots and obviously are heavily influenced by the commercial world. No matter her push for "realism", her shots are very tightly composed and thought out for maximum effect. It's as though Coppola is trying to sell you the lives her characters are living, and no matter how much pain they may be going through (real or imagined), as an audience member, you're buying it.

3. Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Edgar Wright has been hitting them out of the park for a while now. After his hit BBC show Spaced, he broke into the feature world with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. All three projects centered around Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and the three seemed to be unstoppable. Wright took a detour, though, in making the film adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series. Wright uses actors of uncanny resemblance to their pen and ink counter parts, and brings balls to the wall effects to the forefront, creating the closest thing to a true "comic book" movie that has ever been made - Not cheesy, but still faithful to the concepts and artistry of its creator, Bryan Lee O'Malley. While Wright excised some of the story from the 6 volumes of graphic novels, he brings the story of Scott Pilgrim to life in a lean and mean (and fun) way that, honestly, I'm not sure very many other filmmakers could do.

4. The Social Network - When David Fincher announced he was going to make a film about Facebook, there was a collective groan from the film loving community. Wait, this is the guy who made Fight Club? Se7en? The Game? And he's going to make a film about Facebook? Yep. And leave it to Fincher to take all that doubted him, put us in a collective headlock, and give us a noogie for not believing in him. The Social Network is tight, funny, and Eisenberg's performance as Mark Zuckerberg is both intriguing, cold, and funny. He proves himself a force to be reckoned with, and criminally underused. Aaron Sorkin's script is one of the most well written pieces I've seen brought to the screen. Leave it to Fincher to prove everyone who doubted him wrong. Again. When will we learn to stop?

5. Exit Through The Giftshop - In a true to form fashion, a documentary that was sold as being about Banksy turned out to be a documentary hijacked by Banksy, and would tell the story of the man who was trying to make a documentary about him - Thierry Guetta. Using Guetta's own footage to tell the story of the film he was trying to make, and how his own ignorance and stupidity brought about the camera being turned on him, Banksy and crew create the film that Thierry was SUPPOSED to be making - a document about the "Street Art" movement, but also tell the story of what happens when someone who really doesn't know what they're doing has too much time and money on their hands, and a whole bunch of "friends", who have spent years perfecting their craft and building their identity, to copy off of. The film is thoroughly entertaining and fascinating, especially for those interested in art and, specifically, the "Street Art" movement.