S O M E W H E R E

Playing Ping Pong in the Chateau Marmont's 'backyard.'

I have been a huge fan of Sofia Coppola's films ever since I saw her feature film debut, The Virgin Suicides. I quite literally obsessed over her when I was eighteen, watching her films on repeat and even made a film inspired by her work where I filmed mainly nature and the characters were probably only featured for a quarter of the film. So of course I got extremely excited when I heard of her new film Somewhere. When I was overseas I went to so many cinemas in search of her new film but it wasn't showing anywhere. I have had to wait all this time for it to be released on DVD and boy did it kill me! Fortunately it did not disappoint (this could probably be because I am obsessed with Coppola's style so in my eyes she can't do no wrong, but regardless it's a damn good film).

Somewhere has a basic storyline, there is a very minimal soundtrack and the characters have little dialogue. It is mostly a visual experience. Coppola's films could be compared to a meditation class, you are completely relaxed throughout and come out feeling calm and at ease. Coppola describes it beautifully in the Making of Somewhere, '...I wanted to do something that was more like a poem, just a little portrait. I'm not really interested in an elaborate storyline and narrative, but more of a mood and a portrait of a person. Just kind of a moment in our life.' When she says this she is comparing it to her last film Marie Antoinette where she had a lot of obligation to historical facts and the storyline was therefore a little more complex. With Somewhere she had more freedom and was able to focus on things away from the storyline. She could basically be an artist.

I absolutely adore this film! Elle Fanning is just adorable as Cleo and Stephen Dorff is perfect as the actor who is stuck in this world of sex and alcohol. Really pleased to see Coppola sticking with her style in her fourth feature film.

Rating: 4.5/5