Somewhere
Cinema Nova, 31/12/2010
Status: Done and dusted
Wow, did I pick a winner to finish the year with. I'd tell you a bit more about it, but it's New Year Eve and now that Reviewdle's done, I'm getting a life. I'll finish off this review when the hangover subsides. Woo!
Edit 03/01/2011:
Edit 03/01/2011:
Johnny (STEPHEN DORFF, Blade, S.F.W.) is bored and ennui-ing through the downtime after completing his latest blockbuster movie. He hangs out in the hotel where he lives, drinking, smoking, sexing and spending time with his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (ELLE FANNING, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
This is minimalist film-making at it’s most minimal. Many shots are very long, the dialogue is very sparse. There’s been a lot of talk about how nothing happens in the film. I think that’s a misunderstanding – plenty happens, it just does so slowly and doesn’t amount to much (if you can call rich metaphor and beautiful visuals “not much”).
SOFFIA COPPOLA (Lost in Translation) wrote a screenplay that is eloquent (in what it describes as well as what it leaves out) and is steeped in metaphor. She also directs with the kind of naturalism that takes a lot of time and skill to carefully construct. Every shot is calculated to be pertinent and poignant but delivered without seeming forced.
I fully recognize that Somewhere won’t appeal to everyone – it requires patience and a willingness to engage with the space that the film leaves open to you – but for those of us for whom this film is made, it’s just outstanding.
