Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R
It truly is a feat when a filmmaker is somehow ab le to take a familiar theme and miraculously discover new sides, shades, tones and avenues with which to explore those familiar themes.
Writer/Director Sofia Coppola has made her career exploring themes of ennui, loneliness, isolation, and definitely the trappings of and feeling trapped by affluence, whether through birth or acquisition. More often than not, and most crucially, we have gathered Coppola's thematic vision through the eyes of her female characters as evidenced through the hazy teenage dream of "The Virgin Suicides" (1999), the culture clash of "Lost In Translation" (2003), impressionistic period dramas "Marie Antionette" (2006) and "The Beguiled" (2017) and the tabloid-esque docudrama of "The Bling Ring" (2013) while the stark, esoteric "Somewhere" (2010) exists as her sole feature to be viewed exclusively through a male character.
To me, this quality of Coppola's body of work is notable because her filmography is unquestionably filtered through her unique perspective and life experience, which has arrived from her gender functioning and continuing to thrive within a male dominated industry plus her own family pedigree. It is a viewpoint that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the course of her entire career as she has more than delivered the goods and for my sensibilities, has cemented herself as a continuously provocative and idiosyncratic artist as no one else makes films in quite the same way that she does.
With her latest film "On The Rocks," Sofia Coppola has reunited with the great Bill Murray and has successfully merged her artistic sensibilities with the romantic comedy genre, making for a particularly fine fit. With this film, we are graced with the welcome arrival of Coppola's sly, frisky side while not ever sacrificing any sense of her seriousness and overall empathy for her characters and situations. In doing so, "On The Rocks" makes for a more than fully ingratiating, entertaining and still ever enlightening and bittersweet ride.
"On The Rocks" stars the wonderful Rashida Jones as Laura Keane, a New York City based author struggling with writer's block as her life is consumed with raising her two adorable little daughters Maya (Liyanna Muscat) and Theo (Alexandra and Anna Reimer), being a homemaker, and feeling her inner light dimming in the face of her husband Dean's (Marlon Wayans) rapidly rising career as an entrepreneur with a tech start up company.
With Dean increasingly entangled at work as well as feeling frustrated with her lack of creative productivity, growing further apart from the vapid social scene of her children's school culture, growing more existentially exhausted and feeling threatened by the presence of Dean's gorgeous business associate Fiona Saunders (Jessica Henwick), Laura begins to fear that Dean is having an affair which therefore, jeopardizes her overall sense of self as a wife, Mother and a woman.
So, it is time to ask for help from Dad, who happens to be, Felix Keane (Bill Murray), wealthy, world traveled art dealer and eternal playboy who is more than thrilled to assist Laura is her discovery of the truth about her husband while also continuing to repair and rejuvenate their precarious relationship after his departure from her family when she was a child due to an affair.
While Sofia Coppola's "On The Rocks" more than displays her trademark melancholic style and sharper than it may seems satirical outlook (Jenny Slate's terrific appearances throughout as Laura's vacuously self-absorbed school Mom "friend" are especially razor sharp), what she has achieved here is possibly her lightest, most charming escapade. As she more than typically displays a minimalistic approach, this film contains a larger amount of dialogue than we would usually witness in a Sofia Coppola film, but again she utilizes a terrific economy of words, set ups and situations to convey precisely what she needs in order to present a world of meaning in the lives of her characters.
As Laura Keane, Rashida Jones again displays not only why she is a gift of a strong comedic and dramatic actress but also a certain incredulity as to why she is not utilized more than she is. Jones instantly makes for the perfect Coppola conduit leading character as she nails all of the aforementioned themes of ennui, loneliness and isolation within the confines of a young marriage, young Motherhood, being an aging daughter and finding oneself within a professional and personal rut. She accomplishes this feat with such detailed and meticulously observed efficiency and empathy that she does not ever overplay a moment, situation or emotion, making her as believable as life, as believable as any woman you may know in your own personal lives.
As a writer, Sofia Coppola always feels to leave holes within her stories, holes for us to fill in the details to which she implies, but does not overtly state, for ourselves to discern. In addition, and as far as I am concerned, wrongly so, Coppola has been routinely criticized over the years for succumbing to her own sense of White privilege due to the opulence of her settings and the lack of diversity in her casts. With "On The Rocks," both she and Rashida Jones confront both criticisms head on and also without broadcasting neon signs of defensiveness. Again, everything is presented as matter-of-fact and with all of the implicit history and baggage contained snuggly. All we have to do is look and listen and all we need to know is there for us to find.
With regards to race and class, part of Laura Keane's existential quandary is due to the constant feeling that she does not belong. We can gather this from a more personal/familial standpoint as she is clearly still processing the trajectory of her life and relationships due to her Dad's long ago affair and departure. Equally primal are the attitudes of race and class that permeate her life in upper class New York City, as Laura is biracial, married to a Black husband and has two Black daughters. Yes, both she and Dean have more than earned their station in life, to which they are still adjusting to, but even so, Laura always feels out of place and out of step and additionally, with her birthday being a plot point, she is increasingly feeling as if she is out of time.
Remarks are consistently made about Laura's wardrobe and overall appearance compared to others or in regards to a social setting, and definitely when she compares herself to Fiona. She questions her own talents as her writer's block persists, thus making her feel as if she is a fraud who therefore has no right to be where she is. And in one particularly crucial sequence, after she and her Dad have lost track of Dean in a ridiculous car chase, and have been stopped by the NYC police--a situation Felix Keane easily talks his way out of--she utters to her Dad, in full sarcasm, "It must be very nice to be you."
What a brilliantly multi-layered (and very funny) statement that is for Laura to express. On one level, it speaks to the relationship she has with her Dad and the fullness of his character--or her perception of him--as Felix Keane is easily a soul flowing through life seemingly without consequence due to his confidence and charm obviously but also due to his status and privilege as a wealthy, White man. Laura knows only too well that if she or Dean were caught in the exact same situation, a more fateful outcome is more than likely, and it is that specific quality of writing, direction and performance that allows this moment to have its edge as well as comedy.
Bill Murray remains an absolute joy to behold! And as Felix Keane, as well as returning to the Sofia Coppola landscape, he is also operating on a series of levels in order to deliver a performance that is richer, deeper and more solemn that it may seem to be on the surface.
First of all, we are receiving his classic "Saturday Night Live" persona, the devil may care, always ready with the perfect wisecrack character and filled with a laconic merriment that always finds some song in his heart. (Honestly, to this day, I still do not understand the sheer pleasure I feel when Bill Murray sings and in this film, his performance of the song "Mexicali Rose" is a gem.).
Secondly, we have the real world Bill Murray persona, the nearly enigmatic figure, the one without an agent and who hopeful filmmakers have to reach by use of a secret 1-800 number, and is also world traveled and seemingly at home anywhere and everywhere surprising unsuspecting folks in all manner of situations and events.
Third, we have the persona of the eccentric, cultivated, cultured, exceedingly wealthy, melancholic, romantic and ultimately lonely man of late middle to early elderly age as witnessed within Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" (1998), Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" (2005) and of course, Coppola's own "Lost In Translation."
All three of those personas go into the makeup of the character of Felix Keane, which showcases precisely how and why he is a figure that so many people, especially women, are attracted to...and in many ways, it is also a large window into why Laura continuously seeks his counsel, his assistance, and his advice even when she is rightfully infuriated with him.
Clearly, Laura wishes that she harbored the same outward confidence that Felix possesses while it simultaneously exasperates her as what is alluring to others often feels callous and even sexist to her, based upon their shared history. Felix waxes philosophically over again with stories, tales and historical homilies about the innate natures of men and women, to Laura's increased chagrin as she questions Dean faithfulness. Yet, for Felix himself, it is not a question of whether he believes his own stories, in a way, they all serve as confessionals, admissions, and even forms of regret and shame for his past and maybe current transgressions.
Felix's adventures, and the detective hijinks he initiates with Laura, are all designed for him to outrun his guilt for the pain he has caused, serves as a means for him to ask for atonement without ever openly saying the words and soothe his intense loneliness as he is a man about the world but he quite possibly does not have any real friends. He adores his daughter undeniably and he longs to spend time with her, to be included and he is so obviously thrilled to be asked for help that he makes the mistake of presenting himself as being so cavalier that he is unfeeling for the real damage that he has caused. Bill Murray inhabits every inch of this performance with such grace and ease that he just makes it all look so deceptively easy and he is just a pleasure to regard again.
I am just amazed at how each film that Sofia Coppola releases, while existing at its own entity, all feels like chapter of a continuing cinematic novel of which she is the author. "On The Rocks," so clean and efficiently direct in its execution, while also presenting the emotional messiness within the interpersonal relationships between a collective of family members, makes for one especially delicious chapter to explore and experience.
And what's more, it is a bonafide love story that cares deeply about its protagonists, and how they treat each other and themselves as they continue to make their respective ways in an ever challenging world.
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