Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, 2010)

[Jeff]

A Blu-ray release has been announced. I was a little concerned about that since Focus dumped the film into a paltry number of theaters, and gave it little to no support. The more I reflect on it, the more I become convinced that Somewhere is Coppola's best film, and I hope some patient viewers will discover it at home. The only supplement on the disc is a "making of" featurette.

[dad1153]

A $1.7 million box office take? That's bad even by art house standards. It probably cost $3-4 million to make plus an extra million or two for publicity; will make back its cost when overseas/TV rights/home video kick in. Not a huge write-off for Focus but add another money-loser to Johnny Marco's tainted resume; good luck getting your calls returned by Cleo (wink).

[kaujot]

Would it be too much to hope that Universal is going to let Criterion do a loaded version down the road?

[John Cope]

By the way, does anyone know if they ever released the soundtrack to this? The page with track listing has been up for months but as far as I can tell there's never been any way to actually order it.

[Jeff]

By the way, does anyone know if they ever released the soundtrack to this? The page with track listing has been up for months but as far as I can tell there's never been any way to actually order it.

I don't think they ever released it. I've looked in several places to no avail. The Julian Casablancas demo of "I'll Try Anything Once" is available on iTunes if that's of any consolation.

[manicsounds]

Just watched the Blu-ray and I'll say that the picture quality really feels like film. Glad they left the grain untouched as Coppola I know likes the look of film. The Making-Of, is also shot on film it seems, if my eyes aren't deceiving me.

As for the film itself, my first viewing, and it seemed too much like a retread and reimagining of "Lost In Translation" than its own film. Maybe it will take a bit to seep in, but it was good. I really thought with the synopsis and the theme of the film, I thought it would be more about the character of Johnny "waking up" from the Hollywood lifestyle, but the Hollywood indulgences just kept going on and on, I was wondering how it would actually be redeemed.

As for Harris Savides, watching the making-of, that man needs to lose some serious serious serious weight! Watching him getting in the car to do a car shot, it looked like he barely fit inside that thing. If he doesn't lose about 300 pounds, he's not going to be lensing movies much longer....

[Nothing]

somewhere is incomprehensibly bad, a shallow and inept apologia for the rich and famous (anyone questioning this shallow ineptness must first explain the laugably misjudged ending). I guess I should have expected as much after the equally execrable marie antoinette - but then I actually quite liked lost in translation, which one now has to put down primarily to the cast, I think, whilst coppola jr. goes on the permanent avoid list. can think of no legitimate excuse for this winning the golden lion.

[dustysomers]

The Making-Of, is also shot on film it seems, if my eyes aren't deceiving me.

Sure looks like it. Only one extra on the disc is rather disappointing, but it's so elegantly constructed and nicely shot, it's miles ahead of similar making-ofs on most releases.

[mfunk9786]

Did anyone else see this film, catalog it somewhere (heh) in their minds, intending to access it later but not really feeling all that impressed with it? And then find themselves thinking about it very often? I have seen it a total of one time, but it’s replayed in my head a thousand times. Very special film.

[therewillbeblus]

I liked it immediately but yes in as far as it remaining in my mind growing in esteem into a film I inexplicably love. I find Sofia Coppola’s best films hard to write about in general, as they invoke a feeling any explanation could only half-satisfy. The twin pole dancing scene is terrific because it’s sexy but banal, a fantasy that should be euphoric but fails to stimulate, wants to be electric but is amateurish, and the intentional yet restrained juxtaposition between the shots viewing the dance and Dorff’s apathetic impotence is funny and tragic at once. Now I’ve gone ahead and tried to explain it, and only expressed part of why that scene works- and of course this says nothing for the emotional meat of the film.

[mfunk9786]

It's the Strokes needle drop that does it for me. It is a perfect moment of familial and, let's face it, complicatedly romantic bliss that may in fact have no equal that I'm aware of. It captures a specific sort of sun soaked, fatigued, last-day-of-seeing-someone-you-love coziness that does not have a word in the English language, let alone as you said TWBB, a satisfactory explanation.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

I think about it quite often too, primarily Elle Fanning's scene crying in the car, her ice-skating to Gwen Stefani's "Cool", and when the hotel clerk (?) sings "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear". The scene where they're all playing video games together feels especially accurate too.

[furbicide]

Still my favourite Coppola film, I think! Its open spaces and visceral representation of ennui are something that I feel has been present in moments from some of her other work but never captured quite as effectively as this (perhaps with the exception of Lost in Translation). I have also only seen it once (on its theatrical release), but totally get what you mean, mfunk. The film has stuck around in my head in a way that so many similarly "austere" films from the last decade – many of them far more critically praised – haven't.

[domino harvey]

This whole movie is basically ASMR before anyone knew what that feeling was called

[therewillbeblus]

Well, I just bought the blu-ray. Also, nobody should go read the blu-ray.com review. I only read the title and the closing statement, but geez.