Weekly Review -- True fairytales

Somewhere (2010) -- Another entry in Sofia Coppola's elegiac opus, this gorgeous, contemplative drama is a stark rumination on life and its real treasures. Movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) lives a lifestyle of no importance. Constantly canoodling with superficial beauties, jetting off from one monotonous interview to the next and indulging in the spoils that only money can buy, Johnny inhabits a whirlwind all his own, until he is forced to reconnect with his 11-year old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning). As their worlds start interweaving, Johnny slowly begins questioning his priorities and re-evaluating his existence... Coppola's mellow directorial and visual style is the perfect brush with which to paint the contrast between Johnny's jaded routine and Cleo's genuine guilelessness, as well as the fractured relationship between father and daughter. These two aspects of the film comprise its soul and Coppola handles them with aesthetic care, not once dissecting their fragile elements in a clinical manner. As was the case with The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, Coppola employs her unique brand of whimsy and a tinge of nostalgia to portray the evolution of the connection between Johnny and Cleo. Her screenplay places importance on the human factor in a realm of facades, putting the celebrity charade in the foreground when needed and subduing it when unnecessary. Dorff is perfect in the role, playing Johnny as a man who has thrown aside everything that makes him tick, whether intentionally or not; the scene where he consciously reflects upon his values is acting at its best. Fanning is a revelation as Cleo, a child who, without realizing, is merely trying to survive in an environment that fails to pay any precious attention to her. The two actors share a spark of innocence throughout the proceedings, making the story feel almost like a docudrama. With its deliberate pacing and philosophical outlook, Somewhere relies on raw emotion rather than forced theatricality to prove its point about finding true magic in a context of fake enchantment.

8/10