Somewhere

Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning chillax in Somewhere

Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, from 2010, popped up on a few best of the decade lists and, interest piqued, I was able to enjoy a minor work that beautifully employs the environs of LA. Stephen Dorff plays a mega movie star sifting through the ashes of his life while staying at the Chateau Marmont. He is jolted out of his anomie by having to supervise and actually parent his eleven year old daughter (Elle Fanning). At the outset of the film, Mr. Dorff is running his black Ferrari ceaselessly around a track before a fixed camera. At the end, he ditches the gorgeous rig in the desert; a freer man, presumably.

Coppola's overly schematic script is not fatal to the film because she generates a weary charm out of her leads. What diminishes the film is that it is a repeat of Coppola's earlier triumph, Lost in Translation. Let's see: Modern alienation (check), Platonic love between an older man and a younger woman (check), economic privilege (check), amusing antics on an international TV show (check), Bryan Ferry balladry (check), etc. Whereas Lost in Translation was a painting, Somewhere is more of a sketch. Even in such trifles as this film and the Bling Ring, Ms. Coppola has a sure sense of the geography, architecture and traffic patterns of Los Angeles. Somewhere  is worth a look.