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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Somewhere (Film)

by Erin Free | December 20, 2010 09:01

Boosted by incredibly natural performances, this sweet and understated film radiates with a real truth.

One of the best things about writer/director Sofia Coppola is that she knows exactly who she is. She's a true talent - a warm, humanist filmmaker of the first order - who has never tried to come off as anything that she's not. Her films are about wealthy people unfamiliar with the daily grind of life, and unburdened by the kind of problems experienced by most people in the audience.

 

From its first scene, you know that Somewhere is in no rush to get to where it's going, as a fixed camera documents a sports car speeding around a circular track in real time...four times. Welcome to the world of Hollywood superstar Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), where things just go round and round and round, with plenty of speed but little purpose. He lives in the legendarily debauched Chateau Marmont in LA, parties with a crew of hangers-on, pays blonde twins to pole dance in his hotel room, drinks, does drugs and falls asleep. He seems to have no real passion for the craft of acting, and no real passion for anything in general. Johnny, however, is a nice guy. He just lives a life devoid of meaning. But when he's charged with taking care of his eleven-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning), for a few days, Johnny's eyes very, very slowly start to open to his hollow existence.          

 

Despite the obvious character arc, however, Somewhere is not a film of big moments or tear-stained revelations. Things unfold quietly, and at a meandering pace, while the emotionally shut-down characters are never really capable of fully articulating their feelings. As with the admittedly superior Lost In Translation, there's an engaging sweetness about Somewhere, and the central relationship is a truly lovely one. Johnny Marco is certainly no candidate for father of the year, but he loves his daughter, and he takes good care of her. There's a real truth - though often one surrounded by glittery excess - to their exchanges.

 

That is also largely because of the fine performances of Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, who are both exceptional. In his most high profile role in years, one-time pretty boy Dorff invests Johnny with both a genial cockiness and a jaded sadness that is utterly perfect for the character. Like her big sister, Dakota, Elle Fanning is blessed with a loose-limbed ease in front of the camera and, like Dorff, her performance is all about small but telling moments.

 

From the clean, simple cinematography of Harris Savides to the subtly hip soundtrack, Somewhere is a film that gets everything stylistically right. And in its sweet, understated, but deeply meaningful story about making vital connections in an often desperately vacuous world, Sofia Coppola proves that, yes, she might have it all, but she still knows what's important in life.