A mix of a review/analysis of a film intended to practice making blog posts.
Somewhere (2011)
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Somewhere. Few films are quite as divisive. Critics like Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, and A.O. Scott absolutely loved the film, praising nearly every aspect. Many reviews show absolute hatred of the film, using lines such as "'Somewhere' goes nowhere", calling it boring and pointless. That said, I loved Sofia Coppola's previous effort, Lost in Translation, and I consider Stephen Dorff to be a very underrated actor (who is best known for his roles in indie films like Backbeat, I shot Andy Warhol, and Felon, but has also had mainstream roles such as playing the main villain in Blade) so I gave it a shot.
Stephen Dorff in Somewhere
Somewhere tells the story of Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), an actor who's finally achieved the stardom he's been searching for but is now suffering from an existential crisis and is now staying at a celebrity hotel. He's also recovering from a minor injury on his arm (the cause of the injury is never explained). His ex-wife suffers an unexplained breakdown and goes away, leaving him to care for his 11 year old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning).
At least that's what I thought the film was about. Cleo is actually barely seen in the first half of the film, which mainly focuses on scene after scene of Marco's loneliness. He promotes his new film, watches twin sisters pole dance, has sex with strangers, attends a party, and gets a massage among other things.
The first half has some entertaining moments, the best being the few moments with Cleo and the funny massage scene. The insight into show business life and Johnny's general behavior is at times well shot and meaningful. It was great to see Johnny's lack of purpose, after all, he's achieved the fame he's been looking for and he's not sure if it's quite what he expected and he's unsure as to what to do next. That said, things are ultimately more boring than interesting, with many scenes dragging on way too long. For example, we have TWO scenes where Johnny brings pole dancing strippers into the hotel where he's staying and we see their entire dance. Both dances are about 2 minutes but the film could have easily just shown the last 20 seconds of the dances and still made the point they were going for with Johnny's unusual reactions. And don't get me started on the unbelievably tedious makeup scene. We see a group of makeup artists cover Johnny's face in latex (for reasons never explained), then they leave and we see THIS for over a minute. Just the camera zooming in...
However, while the first half of the film film teeters the line between being a tedious film about nothing happening and an interesting film about ennui, everything comes together once Cleo enters the picture. I don't know how much (if any) of the dialogue was improvised, but Elle Fanning and Stephen Dorff have such natural chemistry that they feel like a real life father and daughter. Seeing the way Marco develops as a character from his time as Cleo is done in a very believable manner.
There's virtually nothing known about the film that Johnny is starring in. All that we see is a poster of him giving a brooding stare while standing next to his female co-star played by Michelle Monaghan.
The film appears to be about Italian-Americans (Marco is probably Italian, considering his last name) and may or may not be a reflection of "post modern globalism". The film is never named by any of the characters but from what I could make out from the poster, it was "______ Agenda".
But the lack of the details in some ways actually help the film because it shows how Johnny just does not care at all. His relationship with his co-star is shown to be less than stellar as we see them smile together while promoting their movie and it makes you wonder how genuine any of those photos are of actors together promoting a movie in real life. Are they just smiling for the camera?
The first half has some entertaining moments, the best being the few moments with Cleo and the funny massage scene. The insight into show business life and Johnny's general behavior is at times well shot and meaningful. It was great to see Johnny's lack of purpose, after all, he's achieved the fame he's been looking for and he's not sure if it's quite what he expected and he's unsure as to what to do next. That said, things are ultimately more boring than interesting, with many scenes dragging on way too long. For example, we have TWO scenes where Johnny brings pole dancing strippers into the hotel where he's staying and we see their entire dance. Both dances are about 2 minutes but the film could have easily just shown the last 20 seconds of the dances and still made the point they were going for with Johnny's unusual reactions. And don't get me started on the unbelievably tedious makeup scene. We see a group of makeup artists cover Johnny's face in latex (for reasons never explained), then they leave and we see THIS for over a minute. Just the camera zooming in...
However, while the first half of the film film teeters the line between being a tedious film about nothing happening and an interesting film about ennui, everything comes together once Cleo enters the picture. I don't know how much (if any) of the dialogue was improvised, but Elle Fanning and Stephen Dorff have such natural chemistry that they feel like a real life father and daughter. Seeing the way Marco develops as a character from his time as Cleo is done in a very believable manner.
The film appears to be about Italian-Americans (Marco is probably Italian, considering his last name) and may or may not be a reflection of "post modern globalism". The film is never named by any of the characters but from what I could make out from the poster, it was "______ Agenda".
But the lack of the details in some ways actually help the film because it shows how Johnny just does not care at all. His relationship with his co-star is shown to be less than stellar as we see them smile together while promoting their movie and it makes you wonder how genuine any of those photos are of actors together promoting a movie in real life. Are they just smiling for the camera?
The film is quite similar to Sofia Coppola's universally acclaimed Lost in Translation. Both are about lonely actors who try to get out of their shells with the help of a younger female and have a few language barrier issues when in a foreign country (a portion of Somewhere is set in Italy while Lost In Translation is set in Japan). Lost in Translation is definitely the better film, as Somewhere often times lacks focus. You can't expect too much focus in a "Slice of life" film, but Lost in translation still had enough to keep the viewers interested for the entire running time. Another similar thing to Lost in Translation is the ambiguous ending and you can feel free to interpret that in any way you like. I have an idea of what it means, which I will discuss below. Coppola is a fine director, though as mentioned before, she does let some scenes go on too long. Despite this, it'd be nice to see her start exploring some new themes (I have not seen her most recent film, The Bling ring, but it doesn't seem to be about loneliness which is refreshing).
All this said, Somewhere is still an entertaining film thanks largely to the performances and chemistry between Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, and the engaging themes of Hollywood's celebrity culture, ennui, and parenthood. As mentioned before, the first half lacks the focus that made Lost in Translation so interesting to watch, but there are still enough emotional and lifelike scenes to make it an enjoyable experience. While, I'm not sure that I loved it as much as a handful of critics did, I definitely don't understand some people calling it one of the worst films of all time either. Johnny Marco, despite his subdued personality and celebrity status, felt like a real human being and one I could really relate to and because of that, this is a hard film just to forget. Even the first half is starting to grow on me, the more I think about it. It's somewhat a difficult film to recommend, due to some VERY negative reviews, especially on IMDB, but its a film that I certainly enjoyed. During some moments in the first half, I was wondering when the film would be over, but in the 2nd half, I was almost sad as it was ending, because a film like this wouldn't have a Johnny Marco sequel, so we'll never explore this fascinating character again.
7.5/10
SPOILERS: Ok, let's discuss the ending. The spoiler sign might not even mean anything because what really happened anyways? The ending is a "Book Ends" ending. That means that the ending scene matches the beginning scene, usually meant to show how things have greatly changed or how they haven't changed at all. The film begins with a black ferrari driving in the desert at a fast pace. It eventually stops and Johnny Marco steps out of the car and just stands there. The film ends with Johnny Marco once again driving his Ferrari in the desert. He once again stops, but this time he doesn't just stand there. He walks away from his car, leaving the keys in the ignition, with a smile on his face, heading to places unknown.
My interpretation of the ending is this: the beginning shows Johnny's aimlessness. He's driving around the desert because he doesn't know what he's doing with his life. He steps out, hoping to find purpose beyond simply driving in the desert. However, he doesn't know what to do so he just stands there. At the end of the film, he's driving again, but this time he walks away from the car. The Ferrari represented Johnny's aimless life. He doesn't need the Ferrari anymore because now he has a purpose, a purpose bigger than an acting career. He has a daughter, a daughter who he greatly cares about and who cares about him. Johnny's life is no longer driving in circles. It's not clear where he's walking to because Johnny doesn't know. Life is unpredictable, but he knows what he wants now. He wants to spend time with his daughter, the key to his happiness.
My interpretation of the ending is this: the beginning shows Johnny's aimlessness. He's driving around the desert because he doesn't know what he's doing with his life. He steps out, hoping to find purpose beyond simply driving in the desert. However, he doesn't know what to do so he just stands there. At the end of the film, he's driving again, but this time he walks away from the car. The Ferrari represented Johnny's aimless life. He doesn't need the Ferrari anymore because now he has a purpose, a purpose bigger than an acting career. He has a daughter, a daughter who he greatly cares about and who cares about him. Johnny's life is no longer driving in circles. It's not clear where he's walking to because Johnny doesn't know. Life is unpredictable, but he knows what he wants now. He wants to spend time with his daughter, the key to his happiness.
