Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
"Exquisitely bored in California..." -Pete Townshend ("Exquisitely Bored")
“A director makes only one movie in his life. Then, he breaks it into pieces and makes it again.” -Jean Renoir
I am of the understanding that the inscrutable, mercurial and inimitable Bill Murray does not possess a publicist. And while I am not entirely certain of this next tidbit, I also think that he is not represented by a Hollywood agency anymore as well. The current tale is essentially that if Hollywood industry types and filmmakers have a desire to reach Mr. Murray, there is simply one phone number, an 800 number at that, with an answering machine. As Murray himself explained in Dan Fierman’s GQ interview from August 2010, “I just sort of decide. I might listen and say, "Okay, why don't you put it on a piece of paper? Put it on a piece of paper, and if it's interesting, I'll call you back, and if it's not, I won't." It's exhausting otherwise. I don't want to have a relationship with someone if I'm not going to work with them. If you're talking about business, let's talk about business, but I don't want to hang out and bullshit.”
Brilliant!
As I recount this true Hollywood tale, I have often wondered just what Murray experienced throughout his career and life that made him arrive at this groundbreaking decision and it could not have been more evident as I viewed a screening of “Somewhere,” the fourth film from Writer/Director Sofia Coppola, a quiet, poetic experience detailing the internal crossroads of bad boy movie star Johnny Marco (portrayed poignantly by Stephen Dorff) who has sequestered himself in California’s Chateau Marmont for a seemingly undetermined period of time and now faced with caring for his 11 year old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) after her Mother surprisingly exits, and with no plans to return anytime soon.
As with all of Coppola’s previous films, “Somewhere” is not driven by a plot or even much of a storyline. It is a film of atmosphere, mood and style all presented in an uncluttered matter of fact fashion, forcing audiences to connect the emotional dots. For some audience members, this controversial winner of the “Golden Lion,” the top prize at the 2010 Venice International Film Festival, may try your patience due to its languid pacing and complete lack of instant gratification or anything that actually happens. “Somewhere” is an uncompromising piece of work, almost defiantly sparse, and somehow as it ambled along, I found myself moved by the experience, as moved as I have ever been through all of Coppola’s previous films. And I am anxious to return for another viewing.
As “Somewhere” opens, we are given a lengthy static shot of a circular open road and the roaring racing engine sound of a black Ferrari. Behind the wheel sits Johnny Marco, driving round and round, effectively spinning his wheels and arriving nowhere. On this particular evening at the Chateau Marmont, he drunkenly slipped down a stairwell, breaking his wrist. Aside from that unusual incident, (and a press conference with Michelle Monaghan) its business as usual, such as it is, for Marco. He sits silently for indeterminate stretches of time in his suite. Coyly drinks and smokes in the restaurant not so inconspicuously behind his shades. He stands smoking upon his balcony, watching the traffic below, the billboards within his direct eyeline and the topless models in suites underneath. He receives occasional profanity ridden text messages from jilted lovers. And his nights typically end with him falling asleep to the joyless and surprisingly unerotic pole-dancing act by blond twins. A charmed life it ain’t.
Johnny’s eyes only seem to sparkle with the scheduled visits from his daughter Cleo. While definitely not much of an actual parent, he seems to honestly enjoy her company as he takes her to ice skating practice, plays several levels of Rock Band and enlists her as somewhat of a co-conspirator in his paranoid Hollywood traffic paparazzi games. And then, it’s time to return Cleo to her Mother and crawl back deeply into his somnambulant existence.
By the time Cleo’s Mother abandons her, leaving Johnny to deal with parental responsibilities before Cleo heads off for summer camp, he takes his daughter along to Italy for a scheduled publicity tour, which includes an appearance on an Italian awards telecast. Throughout every moment together, Johnny and Cleo are forced to face the respective trajectories of their lives as they each ponder their relationship with each other.
At first glance, “Somewhere” may appear to be a trite and predictable “pity poor me” exploration of the trappings of fame. But, in Coppola’s hands, she makes the soullessness of fame and the crushing ennui that ensues so rapturously artful. She is an American filmmaker with a European sensibility and “Somewhere” functions as a 21st century Cinema Verite, a completely naturalistic cinematic technique that Coppola utilizes with long sequences that play as real life, making the film resonate far beyond the world of actors and wealth into a film that is strikingly humane and relatable.
While “Somewhere” is equal to Coppola’s previous three films in thematic and emotional complexity, the film is easily her most minimalist to date. There is not much actual dialogue, and again nothing actually happens. Yet, unlike Writer/Director Noah Baumbach’s frustratingly laconic “Greenberg” from last year, Coppola knows how to drive her film internally so as to not allow her movie to feel as if you are watching paint dry. Coppola also knows how to just allow her film to breathe, allowing the film to sneak up upon you and before you know it, you have been affected by what you have been viewing and the result is subsequently haunting.
In regards to the epigraph from filmmaker Jean Renoir that opened this review, “Somewhere” is another variation of Coppola’s consistent themes of isolation and how that state of mind affects the highly introverted characters that populate her stories. “Somewhere” also functions as sort of a career summation of Sofia Coppola’s work thus far as the film encapsulates all of her previous three films key themes while forging ahead to make a new statement. Elle Fanning’s pre-pubescent porcelain beauty as Cleo recalls the doomed teenage girls and other’s perceptions of them in “The Virgin Suicides” (1999) and “Marie Antoinette” (2006) while Stephen Dorff’s hotel cocoon and fame driven isolation obviously echoes Bill Murray’s Japanese hotel refuge in “Lost In Translation” (2003).
“Somewhere” also places Coppola impeccable musical taste to the forefront. The film was reportedly inspired by and written to Phoenix’s ambient “Love Like A Sunset Parts 1 and 2,” (which does appear in the film) and her typically excellent song selections almost makes this film feel like side four of a great double album, with the shifting shades of sorrow and regret taking center stage.
And that is exactly where the weight of this piece arrives: the existential crisis of Johnny Marco and the sense of displacement he feels in his blessed life and how that displacement has been placed upon his child because of his fractured relationship with Cleo and her Mother. Coppola presents this film’s isolation so vividly through Marco as he is almost presented as a faceless movie star, despite his worldwide celebrity. Marco is typically in a constant state of dishevelment, inertia, and is often seen to be in bed or in a near narcoleptic state of falling in and out of sleep no matter what he is doing. One of the film’s most remarkable sequences in a section where Marco is having a old made of his head for a special effects section of the film he is working on. We see the entire process of how his head is encased within the mold and how only the holes of his nostrils remain open. As the mold sets and Marco waits, Coppola allows her camera to sit steadily upon his head, with the only audible sounds being his breathing. And then, the special effects team returns to take the mold from his head and we are shown the final results of the “elderly man” makeup on Marco’s face, a sight which truly shocks him. He has become a real world “Rip Van Winkle,” a man who has effectively slept through his entire life and what has he done with it?
Coppola also effectively illustrates the juxtaposition of being attracted by the luxurious wealth and sights (especially in the Italy sequences) yet we also see how everyone is jaded and everything is meaningless. Yet, Marco only comes to life through the simple moments of sharing gelato with Cleo but even those moments are tinged with melancholy as they both know those moments will not last. The weight of that reality of their Father/daughter relationship is now beginning to take a supreme toll…unless Johnny Marco is able to enact the profound changes that will reclaim his soul and forge a stronger relationship with Cleo.
Out of all four of Coppola films, “Somewhere” also struck me as being the most hopeful. The film’s final shot is the very one that immediately made me think of Bill Murray’s new status as the elusive Hollywood star people have such difficulty trying to locate and work with yet constantly pursue. I am feeling that whatever Murray’s life may be at this stage, it is the life completely of his choosing and control. Perhaps Johnny Marco’s experiences in Coppola’s work are those first baby steps to a new beginning and Coppola has presented it with her trademark eloquence.
I gently urge all of you to give this film a try and allow it to simply wash over you with the patience and warmth of the best sunset. Let it reveal itself to you and you may be surprised at how rewarded you may feel.
For those in Madison, WI, “Somewhere” has been held over for one more week at the Sundance Cinemas. For all of you the film will arrive on DVD April 19, 2011.
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