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Powerful

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

İf we need the summarized the movie with one word; That would be the 'underrated'. I know we can't say ''this movie for everybody'' Because Somewhere one of the slow movies. Sometimes or some moments it can be hard to watch. But this doesn't mean we are watching a bad film. On contrary this the perfect way for this subject.I was surprised by the reviews, of course I was waiting bad comments but this too much for my opinion. Specially I liked the scenes Johny Marco and his daughter,because it was so normal,natural. The relationship with his daughter was so important. When his daughter is gone he tried the go back to his previous routine,his life at the famous motel. But he failed. Because he unlocked the door of something. Maybe there's a chance for him. And I want the say Elle Fanning was perfect. After the Lost in Translation this is the best movie of Sofia Coppola. Give it a chance guys.

Writer/director Sofia Coppola tries to paint a picture of a man suffering ennui, but her idea of suffering misses the target. Start with the opening scene, where the Brad Dorff lays in bed, appearing half asleep, while hired twin strippers perform on poles in front of him. The nightstand is littered with alcoholic/pharmaceutical props. It's an inauthentic attempt to paint a picture of substance abuse and misery. The character is a movie star who lives in a fancy Beverly Hills residential hotel, and has beautiful, naked women throwing themselves his way. He has a very nice relationship with his teenage daughter, and by chance when his ex-wife suddenly checks out, has to take his daughter with him on a trip to Milan, where he's appearing on a TV show. That works out great. While in Milan, he has a mature and non-problematic encounter with a woman. From my point of view, there is nothing about the events on screen that would make me think that there's anything wrong, but Coppola has the character brooding about it anyway. I am not convinced. I think that Coppola is the one brooding here -- about men she has known and been disappointed in. This is a great movie for deconstruction and finding out what's bothering the writer, but it's not the least bit entertaining or believable.

When i watched the trailer i thought the movie is going to be about the relationship of a father and his daughter but i was very wrong, The movie is about a man admitting he's depressed and in need for help.Our man here is Johnny Marco played by Stephen Dorff, is an actor who lives in a hotel away from his divorced wife and his daughter Cleo played by Ellen Fanning. The movie is in three parts each one adding to the character of who Johnny is or rather what Johnny is going through and feeling. The first part shows Johnny watching two strippers in his bedroom and falling asleep, he goes to parties that he clearly isn't enjoying, drinking, doing drugs and having sex all of that without the slightest hint of pleasure. All what seem to be the source of pleasure to people is an act of habit to him, he hooks up with so many beautiful women but it seems like he does it out of need rather than desire. We see how empty his inside is, how colorless is his fame, how uninterested he is in everything that is his life. All of that is obvious through Coppola's stunning directing we see Johnny in the middle of a big room, everything seems to be moving but him, people talk but he doesn't join in, the sounds are always distant and he is not participating in making them.The second part of the film we see him with his daughter Cleo who is spending time with him while her mother is away, their relationship is sweet, it's definitely not the best but they have their moments where they have peace in silence, we only see him active mentally with his daughter. He's not completely present though, he's still depressed but being with a loved one for some quality time is able to bring a very little piece of himself back to life. When they go to Italy together we see them watching Friends in the foreign language, and that shows how out of place they are, he is a stranger to his work and she is a stranger to this life though she seems to be coping with it better than her father. In another scene Johnny is presenting a show in Italian and suddenly women around him start to dance and he's awkwardly standing in the middle, again a stranger to his work. While Cleo laughs and smiles at him, that's where he smiles back opening more to the idea of enjoying things.The third part is where Cleo goes to camp and Johnny tries to tell her something about how he cares for her but it's blocked by the sound of helicopter behind him and he's not brave enough to repeat his feelings and he kind of blames his life for it. Then we see where he loses it, he has been so used to depression for so long that he forgot there's a life beyond that, a life that his daughter reminded him existed. And now for the first time we see him looking for it, calling a friend crying telling her there's nothing to do and struggling with expressing himself, we see Johnny rides to somewhere in despair sick of being depressed. That's where the movie ends showing the whole picture of Johnny Marco's experience. This is how Coppola works, she shows you a bit by bit of this painting that is beautiful but you don't know where it's going or how to feel about it exactly, but in the end you get the whole picture and you're stunned of how meaningful and beautiful it is and leaving you feel like you've been there the whole time seeing how it has been painted.

'Somewhere' directed by Sofia Coppola is a film about a Hollywood actor named Johnny Marco played by Stephen Dorff who leads a lonely existence in L.A. He is asked to keep his daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) with him by his ex-wife while she goes away for some work and is asked to drop her off at the camp where she is supposed to spend her vacation. The time that Johnny spends with Cleo leads him to have certain self-realisations and also forces him to set his life priorities straight.'Lost in Translation' is the only other Sofia Coppola film that I have seen and I could see some similar themes at work in both films like alienation and loneliness, the emptiness beneath the shiny and glossy exterior surface of the life of a Hollywood actor or celebrity,etc. Like "Lost in Translation', 'Somewhere' is also a theme-centric film and is a character study instead of being heavy with plot elements. This film is also heavy with visual symbolism, but they are subtle. The first scene itself of Johnny driving a Ferrari round and round in circles going nowhere tells you everything you need to know about the character without any exposition or the use of dialogue. There are small symbolic elements sprinkled throughout the film involving make-up masks, phone messages, songs playing in the background,etc. which are extremely descriptive and they enrich the storyline. Coppola goes to great lengths to put us in Johnny's shoes and experience his loneliness. We get these long static shots and single take scenes where nothing much happens except Johnny sitting and smoking. We see him repeating the same pointless routine of experiencing casual sexual encounters with strangers, hiring pole dancers to watch them perform(although he dozes off during one of the performances which says something),etc. Then he has to attend photoshoots and answer random questions in press conferences and has to maintain this phony star image in the eyes of the media. So the arrival of Cleo, Johnny's daughter played by Elle Fanning is a breath of fresh air not only for Johnny, but also for the viewers. She spends time with him and goes with him to Italy due to some unavoidable circumstances. Slowly and gradually we see the change that Cleo brings about in Johnny's character, but it happens without any larger than life clichéd, melodramatic scenes. I think the message that Coppola wants to convey with this film is that you can feel enriched and fulfilled when you are with a loved one and with a person you care about and who cares about you no matter where you are, be it your home or be it abroad in completely unfamiliar locations. Loneliness will wreck you and eat you out gradually even if you have all the materialistic possessions that the world has to offer. I know that sounds a bit too preachy, but Coppola manages to succeed in conveying this message without being in the least bit didactic. The performances from both Dorff and Fanning are impressive. I completely bought them as a father and daughter duo. Dorff successfully sells the misery and the depression that his character goes through in the film. His acting is appropriately understated and reserved. Fanning beautifully portrays the naivety and the innocence of youth juxtaposed with the maturity that you would expect from a kid growing up with divorced parents. Sofia Coppola's style of filmmaking is very European. She uses silence and lack of action in a very artistic way. Her style of prolonged static takes and the quiet,deadpan nature of the film reminded me of Jim Jarmusch's 'Stranger than Paradise'. However the style of storytelling and the fact that the film is not too plot-centric will divide audiences. I have seen a lot of harshly negative reviews on IMDb message boards some of which border on being abusive. Even some critics whose opinions I respect have come up with negative reviews for the film which says a lot about the divisive nature of the film. If you want a film to have a lot of plot and where things keep on happening from one scene to the next, then 'Somewhere' is certainly not for you. But if you are a viewer who likes to go deep inside a film and look for symbolism and character arcs and subtlety and if you are willing to be patient which this film requires you to be, then 'Somewhere' will be a rewarding watch for you. 'Somewhere' works both as a study of the character of Johnny and the change that his character goes through, as well as an exploration on a broader level of the brutal truths of the life of a celebrity.