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February 04, 2011 Culture » Film Reviews

Somewhere 

Pity Party: Why should we care about Somewhere's existential despair?

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Elle Fanning, Stephen Dorff - SOMEWHERE
  • Somewhere
  • Elle Fanning, Stephen Dorff
Pity poor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), the protagonist of writer/director Sofia Coppola’s infuriatingly empty-headed Somewhere. Sure, he may be an international movie star who gets to jet off to Italy and stay in a suite with its own swimming pool. But his days and nights are mostly spent on random sexual encounters, or renting pole dancers to put on private routines in his room at Los Angeles’ legendary Chateau Marmont or generally milling about smoking and drinking alone.

Lucky for him that he has an 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning), who is about to be dropped off when her mother, Johnny’s ex, needs some alone time. She provides him someone with whom he can spend some redemptive time playing Guitar Hero and having pretend underwater tea parties before being left alone again to contemplate the emptiness of the rest of his life.

Coppola—who traveled in similar sad-celebrity territory much more effectively in Lost in Translation—packs into her 90-minute running time plenty of meticulously choreographed long takes of Johnny drifting on an air mattress in a pool or staring pensively into the distance, allowing ample opportunity for viewers to wallow in Johnny’s existential despair. But Dorff’s performance is far too shallow to allow insight into Johnny’s shifting priorities, nor can he make his inevitable sobbing breakdown feel like anything but a mediocre actor playing at what he thinks real catharsis looks like. Meanwhile, Fanning’s considerable effortless charms and thousand-watt smile are wasted on a role that’s little more than a plot device for Johnny’s awakening.

It all leads up to a concluding scene that, while intended to be an emotionally satisfying bookend to the can’t-you-just-smell-the-metaphor opening shot, feels as absurdly self-absorbed as Johnny seems to be. “Who is Johnny Marco?” asks a clearly stupid entertainment journalist at a press conference. The better question is, “Why should we care?”

SOMEWHERE

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Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning
Rated R

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About The Author

Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw
Bio:
 Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy, literature,... more

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