Movie Review: Somewhere

It's not often that I get incensed by movie reviews, but much of what I've read about Sofia Coppola's Somewhere is missing the film's wider message, and as a result, is selling Coppola's new work short.  Most critics are focusing on Somewhere as a movie about the alienating effect of fame in contemporary culture, and proceeding to judge the film based on their sympathy (or lack thereof) for celebrities. While these reviews aren't exactly wrong, they ignore the fact that behind every celebrity persona exists a person like you or me; they fail to see the Everyman beneath the chosen one.

Somewhere tells the story of Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff, resurrected from career purgatory), Hollywood star bored by luxuries that most of us would kill for. He's not a particularly sympathetic character to begin with, and is made even less so when we see him drowning his sorrows in booze and pills or passing out in the midst of some pretty serious foreplay. But take away the insane privileges of celebrity, and Johnny Marco becomes just another person unhappy with himself and desperately seeking something that will pull him from his depression.  At it's core, Somewhere is a thoughtful meditation on the human condition, something we all share regardless of our material possessions.

Coppola's challenge in Somewhere is to expose how the trappings of fame and celebrity do nothing to elevate someone above self-loathing, depression, and boredom;  she must destroy pre-conceived notions about fame as some golden ticket to happiness. The success of the film depends on this, and it seems that for many critics, Coppola fails; I've read that the pacing of Somewhere is self-indulgent, that audiences are bored by Johnny's boredom, and that the lack of transformation or even resolution at the film's ending belies some fundamental lack in the character of Johnny Marco.  These selfsame criticisms, for this viewer, are what make the film so powerful.  The meandering tempo of the film crushes cultural assumptions about the glamorous, fast-paced life of a celebrity, instead highlighting that time runs the same for all of us, and that we are each responsible to construct our days in such a way as to create meaning. Johnny's boredom, far from boring, reinforces the film's overall message that achieving celebrity isn't a golden ticket.  As for the film's conclusion, I found the lack resolution further cemented the notion that the distinction celebrity and fame afford does nothing to combat the pains of being human.

I've never had pole dancers on call or a swimming pool in my hotel suite, but I have felt disillusioned and bored with my many blessings, dissatisfied with my day-to-day life, and even depressed by my own boredom. Though Stephen Dorff's Johnny Marco and the rest of us are separated by a host of luxuries and life experiences, we are bonded by the fact that we are all caught up in our own lives, unable to appreciate what we have, preferring to strive to attain, obtain and experience more. It's the human condition, and if you can't relate to that, then Tron's playing right down the hall. Maybe you'll find something in common with the Programs on the Grid.