Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Somewhere

“Who is Johnny Marco?”
 
Well, it would appear that Johnny Marco is a man of few words and many women, an actor (a good one?  Maybe we’ll never know) living in a hotel and not really doing much.  Marco is a man with too much spare time and not much to fill it, a drifting personality in a crazy world of lull and rush.
 
Sofia Coppola’s new film once again examines human foibles through the generation gap – this time a father and daughter – but she does so this time round in a film where, honestly, nothing happens.  I remember some people complaining about this about Lost in Translation, Coppola’s beautiful, sparse, Tokyo-set film, and I would advise those people not to see Somewhere.  Even less happens.  But even less happens in a truly beautiful way.  The casting is spot on and the performances are a joy to watch.
I think that Coppola has come very close to recreating the artist’s canvas on film.  Occasionally static camera work and extended scenes (Johnny playing the piano is an image that has remained in my mind) come together to make a placid film and considering the world in which the film is set, the pacing of the film is the complete opposite of what you might expect. 
Coppola has once again given us two wonderful people to observe.  Elle Fanning is terrific and I could have watched Stephen Dorff do nothing for much, much longer.  His face is so expressive and his character so flawed and sweet and, quite often, lost.  He lives in a world that is almost unrecognisable to us 9-5ers but even this doesn’t seem to be the point of the film.  There is no real emphasis - things happen, things don’t happen, people just exist.  There is no sudden huge plot development, there is no real dramatic intent; the film just contemplates a short period of a man’s life.
But it does so in such a beautiful way.  The more I think about the film the more I want to see it again.  It was relaxing and friendly (which seems a very strange thing to say about a film) and non-confrontational.  It made me feel comfortable (except for the scene where Marco’s head is encased to make a mould for his prosthetics.  That made me feel horribly claustrophobic) and drew me into Johnny’s life wonderfully.
 
Cool and calm.  Not one for viewers looking for a thrill – 7/10

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