Monday 3 January 2011

Somewhere

I didn't expect to like it but I really really did. She's a thoughtful, low-key film-maker, knows how to show rather than tell. Stephen Dorff is a film star staying in the Chateau Marmont, looking after his 11 year old daughter (a really great, natural young actor) and shagging hundreds of women. You think that if you were a young, good-looking famous film star and women were throwing themselves at you all the time, you probably would too, why wouldn't you?

But it makes you think about the emptiness of fame - after a while, the women all look the same and it becomes subtly depressing.

And it makes you think about the weirdness of fame, because he's a totally ordinary bloke, but they all chase him just because he is famous.

2 comments:

  1. I really liked it too. The ordinary bloke thing is what did it - the reviews I read refused to have any sympathy for the guy because he's wealthy and successful and therefore, what? a different breed of human being, one who's outside our normal range of identification? It's stupid. The guy is unhappy because, like so many unhappy people from every conceivable background, he has a fucked-up way of engaging with his life. It ain't Coppola's problem if you (not you, obviously) can't sympathise with that.

    Plus, the scenes with Chris Pontius and the daughter. Lovely stuff altogether. The pints I would have with that man, I tell you what.

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  2. Oh I am glad you like it too Emordino, and the scenes were lovely with Chris Pontius - I think that was a sign too that he wasn't such a bad guy underneath, because he was still good friends with his best friend before he was famous...

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