Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere"

As Sofia Coppola's new film "Somewhere" explores, our celebrity obsessed culture is a phenomenon overexposed, yet still misunderstood. Editorials are written, documentaries and satires are filmed, but our obsessions are left unchecked. Even in writing this review, it feeds into the celebrity of Sofia Coppola.

It is not the overt intention of Coppola's "Somewhere" to explore a public display of psychosis over celebrities. It is more a microscopic viewing of the fictional celebrity Johnny Marco as portrayed by Stephen Dorff ("Blade", "Public Enemies"). Dorff conjures up a celebrity that is somewhere between the cool indifference of Bruce Willis and the melancholic sweetness of River Phoenix.

It's not seemingly difficult for an actor to portray celebrity angst, but it is a challenge to do so without appearing overly satirical like in Robert Altman's "The Player." Coppola herself has lived most of life behind the curtain of celebrity, made privy to iconic lives through her father. She is surrounded by celebrity: her father, her aunt Talia Shire, cousins Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman, she was married to Spike Jonze and is currently involved with Thomas Mars of the band Phoenix (Who provide the original score to "Somewhere").

She hardly seems the candidate to make a film that views celebrity from the outside looking in. This is why "Somewhere" is such an interesting film for putting the actor Johnny Marco under the microscope. Coppola offers an insider's knowledge as writer and director of "Somewhere." She also carries warm empathy in her portrayal being in the bloodline of celebrity. Without losing this warmth and perspective, Coppola still turns that microscopic knob of critical focus and humor.

The story of Johnny Marco in "Somewhere" is somewhat simple, almost clichéd and predictable in its turnout. A celebrity's existential funk of meaninglessness is salvaged by rekindling a relationship to his 11 year old daughter. This is a premise that could go full blown Hallmark commercial: imagine Billy Ray Cyrus starring with Miley in a Lifetime Special Presentation. This is Sofia Coppola after all; the stylistic artist who gave us "Lost in Translation", "The Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette."

Stephen Dorff sulks on screen as Coppola gives us Jim Jarmusch moments of self-reflection; think Bill Murray in "Broken Flowers" or Isaach De Bankolé in "The Limits of Control." Molasses pacing and long camera pauses completely embody the psychological state of Johnny Marco. The scenes lighten and pacing picks up once Marco's daughter Cleo appears, played by Elle Fanning. It is almost formulaic mood making through film, as are the symbolic motifs sprinkled throughout.

There is the motif of molds, as in face molds and casts. Marco breaks his arm and the cast carries his symbolic healing. There is also an eerie scene of the actor getting a face mold done by a special effects team for a movie. The cast and face mold play into what can be summed up by a Glenn Yarbrough lyric from "The Hobbit": "the mold of your life is in your hands to break."

There is also the literal symbolic vehicle that forms a mold around Marco's life: his Ferrari. It encapsulates his existential journey from the opening scene driving in circles to the last scene abandoning the Ferrari for the unknown. The symbolism is clever, but obvious without penetrating any great transformation we expect from our cinema experiences.

We want so much more from Dorff as Johnny Marco; we want him to burst off the screen into a triumphant transformation. That's the movie buff inside me who still wants to live vicariously through iconic characters. Must I really be reminded that life altering transformations don't happen as quickly as Jimmy Stewart's performance from one frame to the next in "It's a Wonderful Life?"

There is where Sofia Coppola's motifs penetrate "Somewhere", with Stephen Dorff caked in mold lubricant and his nostrils breathing the only release. The camera slides in on Dorff leaving us to wonder what life as a celebrity is truly like, where the everyday existence of action stars in not so action-packed. Just as the cast on his arm weighs down his lifestyle, it allows Marco time to re-evaluate his connection to women and his daughter. It's a milder form of another Jimmy Stewart performance in Hitchcock's "Rear Window", minus the murder mystery. In a larger sense Sofia Coppola is giving viewers reflection that change is a slow transformation.

The subject of celebrity is a fitting vehicle to bring this message, as movies often mislead us with jump-cuts of personal revolutions.