lost in translation
The steadfast search for heartfelt, emotional connections in the films of Sofia Coppola
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lost in translation
Sometimes, we find ourselves to be adrift and at cross roads in our lives feeling lost and isolated. A singular human interaction causes a shift in attitude, helping to numb the pain and escape reality. In the end, there is the sad realization that life awaits, and reality awaits.
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table of contents The director
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The festival
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The films
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The Virgin Suicides
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Lost In Translation
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Marie Antoinette
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Somewhere
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The Bling Ring
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the director
sofia coppola
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the director
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her story Sofia Coppola was born into Hollywood royalty, the
Roman and Gian Carlo, grew up on the sets of their
daughter of one of the most applauded film directors
father’s movies, with their mother close at hand, often
of the twentieth century, Francis Ford Coppola. From
documenting the movie-making process.
the beginning, it seemed she was destined, like her father, for a career in the movies. A few weeks after her birth, Coppola took on her
The youngest Coppola loved traveling to such exotic film locations as Manila, located in the Philippines, where the filming of Apocalypse Now
first acting role: as an infant boy in her father’s epic
took place. Apocalypse Now is Francis Ford Cop-
film, The Godfather (1972). Throughout her life, she
pola’s powerful look at the Vietnam War (1954–75).
continued to live and work under her father’s wing,
Seven-year-old Sofia entertained herself for hours
but his wing often cast a long shadow. In 2004
by drawing elaborate pictures of palm trees and
Coppola finally stepped out of that shadow to claim
helicopters and weaving the pictures together to
her own celebrity. She became the first American
form a story.
woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, for her movie Lost in Translation.
An Artistic Household
When not on location the family settled in a small town in Napa Valley, California, away from the glare of Hollywood. Even at home, however, family life was far from ordinary. The Coppola’s had summer cre-
Sofia Coppola was born May 12, 1971, in New York
ativity camps, where the children were encouraged
City, during the production of The Godfather. She
to write stories and plays, to design and experiment.
was the youngest child, and the only daughter, of
Sofia’s parents inspired her, but Eleanor Coppola has
director, producer, and screenwriter Francis Ford
also noted that her daughter was a very imaginative
Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, designer, artist, and
child from the beginning.
documentary filmmaker. Sofia, her older brothers,
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According to a now-famous story, Francis Ford
especially those directed or produced by his son,
Coppola claims that he knew his daughter was des-
Francis Ford Coppola. Subsequently in 1974, he won
tined to be a director when she was about three years
an Oscar for writing the score for Francis Ford’s
old. As Coppola has told it, he and wife were driving
The Godfather, Part II.
in their car, bickering back and forth and not paying
Sofia’s aunt is actress Talia Shire (1946–), the sister
attention to Sofia, who was sitting in the backseat.
of Francis Ford. Shire is probably best known for her
Tired of her parents arguing, Sofia called out, “Cut!”
role as Adrian in Rocky (1976), for which she received
“I felt a little bit this time, a little bit, like people were
an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
able to see my movie without seeing my family.”
Shire’s son is actor Jason Schwartzman, who starred
The Family Business Under the circumstances it is not surprising that Sofia Coppola went into the family business; her
in Rushmore. Sofia’s more famous cousin is actor Nicolas Cage , son of August Coppola, who is Francis Ford’s Coppola’s brother. Sofia Coppola even married a filmmaker, director
family tree reads like a who’s who of Hollywood.
Spike Jonze, whom she met while a student at the
Grandfather Carmine Coppola (1910–1991) was
California Institute of the Arts. Some claimed that the
a flutist, conductor, and composer who worked with
character of the flashy photographer husband in Lost
a number of symphonies across the United States.
in Translation was based on Jonze and that Coppola
He found fame in his later years when he migrated
wrote the story because she was having trouble in
to Hollywood and wrote music for the movies,
her marriage. Coppola denied the rumors, although
the director
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“you’re considered superficial and silly if you are interested in fashion, but I think you can be substantial and also still be interested in frivolity” —Sofia Coppola
she admits that most of what she writes comes from
Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California,
her personal experiences. In 2003 Coppola and Jonze
where she studied painting for several years before
separated after four years of marriage. When the
dropping out. By now, Coppola was in her early
movie was released, critics had a field day. Reviewers
twenties. She toyed with the idea of going to film
openly criticized Francis Ford Coppola for showing
school in New York, but school did not seem to
favoritism and casting his own daughter in such an
be the place for her. Instead, she began to explore
extremely important role.
different career options. For a while she worked as
What’s a girl to do? While she was still in high school Coppola was
a photographer, taking pictures for such fashion magazines as Paris Vogue and Allure. Eventually Coppola turned to fashion design
already dabbling in fashion as well as design. She
when she and a longtime friend started a sportswear
modeled for American designer Marc Jacobs and
clothing label called Milk Fed. Coppola focused on
interned at Chanel, a famous fashion house in Paris,
design while her friend took charge of production.
France. While she an intern, she mostly answered
Over time the venture grew, and eventually became
phones, made photocopies, and ran errands, but the
successful. The current line consists mostly of logo
experience, says Coppola, was remarkable.
imprinted T-shirts and clothing inspired by 1980s
After graduating from Napa Valley’s St. Helena High School, Coppola briefly attended college in Oakland, California. She then enrolled at California
fashion. Coppola also launched her own boutique, Heaven-27, to sell the hip Milk Fed line.
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Coppola worried that she was going in too
that she had tried her hand behind the camera. In
many directions, and that maybe she should focus
1989 she helped her father write the script for a short
her energies. Coppola went to her father for advice,
film titled Life without Zoe, which was part of the
asking him if she should settle with one thing and
anthology movie New York Stories. She also designed
specialize. The senior Coppola recalled telling his
the costumes for the movie. Lick the Star, however,
daughter “that she didn’t have to, that she should
was Coppola’s first attempt at taking creative control
pursue everything and anything that interested
of a film project, and, after making the movie, she
her, that eventually they’d come together in some-
had figured out what she wanted to do.
thing on their own.”
Everything Comes Together Coppola tried her hand at painting, photography,
Coppola lost no time in pursuing her dream. In 1999, only one year later, she released her first feature-length film, The Virgin Suicides. Coppola wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from the
fashion design, acting, and even hosting a show on
1993 book by American author Jeffrey Eugenides.
television. In 1995 she and Zoe Cassavetes, daughter
The movie was produced by Zoetrope, her father’s
of director John Cassavetes (1929–1989), appeared
film company. This time, although some critics
on Hi-Octane, a weekly show on Comedy Central
focused on the fact that a Hollywood kid was being
that was geared toward teens and also focused on
given a boost by her famous father, most were not
movies, fashion, and celebrities.
as harsh as they had been when Coppola appeared in
In 1998, however, everything finally seemed to come together. That was the year that Coppola wrote, directed, and also produced her first film, a short comedy called Lick the Star. It was not the first time
The Godfather, Part III.
the director
In fact, the majority of reviewers embraced
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and shooting ads for fashion magazines. The out-
the very bizarre story of a group of teenage boys,
come was Lost in Translation (2003), which Coppola
obsessed with five sisters who, by the movie’s end,
not only wrote, but produced and directed.
kill themselves. Many of Coppola’s skills helped her to make The
Coppola shot the movie on location in Tokyo in just twenty-seven days, for only $4 million, wherein
Virgin Suicides a success, especially her photogra-
movie-making, is a very small budget. There is no fast
pher’s eye and her flair for design. Since the story is
action, no special effects, just a simple story about
told from the perspective of several different boys,
two people who connect. As she did in The Virgin
she used a lot of different quick camera shots as if
Suicides, Coppola drew on her background in
the boys were taking snapshots. And, because the
design and photography to create her own personal
story is set in the 1970s, she wanted to get the right
style of filmmaking. In Newsweek, “Coppola is a
feel in the look of the film and in the clothes the
warm, meticulous observer, with an intimate style
actors wore. Coppola was viewed as a young, new
that’s the polar opposite of her famous father,
director who had a lot of potential, and critics
Francis Ford.
looked forward to her next film.
A story all her own The success of The Virgin Suicides led Coppola
Interviewers describe Sofia Coppola’s films as dreamy or dreamlike. They use the same words to describe Coppola the filmmaker. Still a shy, quiet person, Coppola seems uncomfortable in the spotlight
to try her hand at writing an original screenplay. She
of her new-found fame. According to Anthony
had been thinking about a story for several years,
Breznican, she is “polite, pensive and as unpolished.
one that would take place in Tokyo, Japan, where she had spent a lot of time working on her clothing line
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coppola q+a The maker of all our most cherished movies talks about longing, identity, and how Hollywood underestimates teenagers. Q: Considering your involvement in design and photography, was it always your intention to direct films at some point? A: I guess it was subconsciously. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I went to art school and tried a bunch of different things, but I knew I wanted to do something in the visual arts. And I’d always been around my dad’s film sets, so the interest was there. But I didn’t have the guts to say, “I want to be a director,” especially coming from that family. When I read [The Virgin Suicides], I thought I knew exactly how it should be as a film. I did a short film, and that was when I first realized that [directing] was actually something I knew how to do, which really surprised me.
Q: What’s your interest in girls of that particular young age? A: Well, the girls in Lick The Star were a little younger, like seventh grade. I just remember seventh grade as being really difficult, because there’s nothing meaner than a girl at that age. You gang up on people, and it’s traumatic. It wasn’t so bad for me, but there’s a woman I know who’s still traumatized by junior high. At that age, everything seems like a huge deal, but of course that changes when you get older. How does Lick The Star relate to Virgin Suicides? There’s something about being a teenager that’s so sincere. Everything is more epic, like your first crush. I feel that it’s not always portrayed very accurately.
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“When I read The Virgin Suicides, I thought I knew exactly how it should be as a film. I did a short film, and that was when I first realized that directing was actually something I knew how to do, which surprised me.”
Q: What were some of the problems inherent in adapting the book, ‘The Virgin Suicides’? A: One of the things the book does so well is jump around in time and flash-forward and piece together the boys’ memory, which is hard to do on film. We tried to do more with time than we did, but we ended up cutting things up and just sticking with the scenes with Michael Pare in the future. Otherwise, the effect was going to be too jarring.
Q: What was the relationship between the events in the story and the period? A: The period seemed more innocent than now, but maybe that’s because it’s a childhood story. Like when I listen to music from that period, and when we were picking out songs, the music struck me as really passionate and heartfelt, not cynical at all. But I think it was less about the era than about the idea of boys looking back on this experience.
Q: What were some of the stylistic influences for the film? A: They were mostly from photography. I collect a lot of photos and I went through a lot of photo books with cinematographer Ed Lachman. There were so many influences, I have a hard time naming them. A couple of the bigger ones were Bill Owens a photojournalist best known for his survey of American suburbia in the ‘70s and Todd Haynes’ movie Safe, which is also set in the suburbs and was made with a kind of restraint and atmosphere that made a big impression on me. In fact, I chose to work with the costume designer of that film [Nancy Steiner] because her work was so subtle.
lost director the in translation
Q: A lot of your movies can be kind of critical of these different examples and settings of privilege and glamour and fame, but you kind of have to operate within that realm to make the art you want to make, to make films. How do you reconcile that, and what makes it worth it?? A: It’s important for me to promote my movies, so I do press that’s about promoting my work—which is really different from promoting oneself. I wouldn’t do press just about myself. The side of our tabloid culture that these kids are into, for a lot of them it’s more about just being famous and being personalities—which is so different from people who are being celebrated for what they’ve accomplished. This idea that anyone and everyone can be famous—it seems like it’s from reality TV and social media. It’s just such a big part of our life now. We didn’t have that when I was growing up.
Q: So many of your movies are about teenagers. What continually draws you to those subjects? A: I always like characters who are in the midst of a transition and trying to find their place in the world and their identity. That is the most heightened when you’re a teenager, but I definitely like it at the different stages of life. I like stories where the drama comes more as an internal part of the character as opposed to from outside forces that make you change. I wasn’t planning to do a movie about teenagers, but when I read the Bling Ring story it felt like it had all of the elements of a movie that would be fun and exciting but also disturbing. I was thinking about that part of our culture, which I thought people weren’t really talking about. I thought it was something timely to talk about.
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1986
Faerie Tale Theatre Peggy Sue Got Married
1987
Anna
1972
The Godfather
1983
Outsiders
1974
The Godfather Part II
1990
The Spirit of ‘76 Godfather Part III
1984
Rumble fish
1999
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
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Acted in Directed
filmography 1999
The Virgin Suicides
2003 Lost in Translation
2006 Marie Antoinette
1998
Lick the Star
2015 A Very Murray Christmas
2013 The Bling Ring
2010 Somewhere
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awards & nominations 2000 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
2003 Awards Circuit Community Awards
Nominated
Won
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Screenplay
Lost In Translation
Best Female Newcomer
Nominated
The Virgin Suicides
Best Motion Picture Lost In Translation
2001 Young Hollywood Awards Won Best Director Lost In Translation
Best Director Lost In Translation
2004 American Screenwriters Association Nominated
2003 New York Film Critics Circle Awards Won
Discover: Screenwriting Lost In Translation
Best Director Lost In Translation
2004 Australian Institute Nominated
2003 Venice Film Festival Won
Best Foreign Film Lost In Translation
Lina Mangicapre Award Lost In Translation
2004 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Won
2003 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Won Best Director Lost In Translation
Best Screenplay Lost In Translation Nominated Best Screenplay Lost In Translation
the director
2004 Independent Spirit Awards
2005 CĂŠsar Awards, France
Won
Won
Best Director
Directors Guild, America
Best Screenplay
A Very Murray Christmas
Best Feature Lost In Translation
2004 International Cinephile Society Awards Won
2005 Bodil Awards Won Golden Lion Lost In Translation
Best Original Screenplay Lost In Translation
2004 Academy Awards, USA
2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Nominated Best Woman Director
Won
Somewhere
Best Original Screenplay
Nominated
Lost In Translation
Best Woman Screenwriter
Nominated
Somewhere
Best Picture Lost In Translation Best Director Lost In Translation
2004 BAFTA Awards Nominated Best Film Lost In Translation Nominated Best Screenplay Lost In Translation
2004 Golden Globes, USA Won Best Screenplay Lost In Translation Nominated Best Director Lost In Translation
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the festival lost connections
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the festival
May 12
May 13
Opening party +
Photo exhibition +
film screenings
film screenings
May 14 Hit records concert + film screening
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the festival
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about the festival This film festival serves to celebrate Sofia Coppola’s
The festival is the first of it’s kind in the sense that
work, and the themes that her movies are loosely
it is co-organized by the non-profit organization,
based around. Just like all her movies, the festival
New York Women in Film and Television. The festival
celebrates arbitrariness and that everything isn’t
is purely to honor women in film and television who
simply black and white. Similar to her characters on
are severely under appreciated and under represented.
screen who are at some kind of cross-roads in their
New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT)
life searching for a deeper meaning and sometimes
supports women calling the shots in film, television
they are rudely reminded that life doesn’t allow them
and digital media. They energize the careers of
to simply slip away into their own oblivion, this
women who are in entertainment by illuminating
festival aims to do the same by showcasing Sofia
their achievements, not only providing training,
Coppola’s directorial work.
professional development, and advocating for
The audience will be interested in the festival
equality. Therefore, it felt fitting to NYWIFT to
because watching her movies only make us feel like
honor another remarkable female filmmaker who
questioning things in our lives more. You never feel
apart from attaining a fair amount of commercial
like your questions have been adequately answered
success has suffered being a woman director.
in black and white over the course of the movie. As human beings, we often want answers to things, and when they don’t come easily, we go out of our way to search for them. This festival will showcase a wide range of Coppola’s work, as well as an insight into the mystery that is Sofia Coppola, and also a special exhibit of her photography.
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the festival
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date + location 5/12/2017– 5/14/2017
The festival is set to take place from May 12–May 14 honoring Coppola’s work on the days leading up to her birthday and ultimately culminating on her birthday. The festival also includes a photography exhibit and music concert. The festival is set to take place in Manhattan, New York. Manhattan is also the most densely populated of New York City’s 5 boroughs. It’s mostly made up of Manhattan Island, bounded by Hudson, East and Harlem rivers. Among the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centers, it’s the heart of “the Big Apple.” Its iconic sites include skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building, neonlit Times Square and the theaters of Broadway. What makes Manhattan special for this festival is the fact that Sofia Coppola’s native city is New York. Many of her movie themes also revolve around “girl in big city” kind of vibe, hence it felt appropriate to hold it in Manhattan.
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Angelika Theater New York The original Angelika Film Center & Café opened in New York City’s Soho district in 1989. The Angelika plays an impressive and diverse mix of independent films, and is the definitive cinema of choice for filmmakers and film lovers alike. Since its opening, the Angelika New York has become the most successful and recognized art house in the United States. The Angelika offers a dynamic and sophisticated atmosphere. The theater is a great place to meet your friends or hang out by yourself, and patrons who come early can enjoy a gourmet snack at the café or browse our InFocus newsletter.
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Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds, and provides inspiration. With extraordinary exhibitions, the world’s finest collection of modern and contemporary art, MoMA is dedicated to the conversation between the past and the present, the established and also the experimental. Our mission is helping you understand and enjoy the art of our time.
IFC Center, New York IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, a well- known art house movie theater. IFC Center is owned by AMC Networks, the entertainment company that owns the cable channels AMC.
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the festival
attractions of the city
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Getting to SoHo:
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SoHo neighborhood SoHo, sometimes written Soho, is a neighborhood
Almost all of SoHo is included in the SoHo-Cast
in Lower Manhattan, New York City, which in recent
Iron Historic District It consists of 26 blocks and
history came to the public's attention for being the
approximately 500 buildings,many of them incorpo-
location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, but
rating cast-iron architectural elements. Many side
is now better known for its variety of shops ranging
streets in the district are paved with Belgian blocks.
from trendy upscale boutiques to national and also international chain store outlets. The area's history is an archetypal example of inner-city regeneration and gentrification, encompassing socio-economic, cultural, political and architectural developments. The name "SoHo" refers to the area being "South of Houston Street", and was also a reference to Soho, an area in London's West End. This began a naming convention that became a model for the names of emerging and re-purposed neighborhoods in New York such as TriBeCa short for "Triangle Below Canal Street", DUMBO ("Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass"), NoHo ("North of Houston Street"), Nolita ("North of Little Italy") and NoMad ("North of Madison Square"), among others.
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Getting to the fire museum
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new york city fire museum The FDNY’s original museum opened as the
Center site. A video room and a mock apartment
Fire College Museum in Long Island City in 1934. In
with an artificial smoke machine and black-lighted
1959 the collection was moved to the spare bay of
fire hazards are used in the museum’s fire education
a working firehouse at 100 Duane Street in Manhattan,
program for school children ages K through 12.
where it had remained until the Home Insurance
The New York City Fire Museum attracts 40,000
Company presented its own extensive collection
visitors a year from all over America and almost
of fire memorabilia to the city in 1981, making a
every country in the world. Retired FDNY firefighters
move to larger space imperative. A new non-profit,
proudly volunteer to relate stories of New York City’s
The Friends of the New York City Fire Department
“Bravest” and with the help of the Museum’s stunning
Collection, was created to raise funds to renovate the
collection, tell how they got to be that way.
former quarters of Engine Company No. 30, a 1904 Beaux-Arts firehouse on Spring Street, and in 1987, the New York City Fire Museum opened its doors. Displays illustrate the evolution of firefighting from the bucket brigades of Peter Stuyvesant’s New Amsterdam through the colorful history of firefighters to modern firefighting techniques and equipment. The Museum also houses a special memorial to the 343 members of the FDNY who made the Supreme Sacrifice on 9/11 and also features a number of firefighting artifacts recovered from the World Trade
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Getting to the fire museum
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new museum Recently Pritzker laureate SANAA offers to architects,
the 5th floor, offices at 6th, a multi-purpose room at
critics and customers very sharp architectures,
the 7th. By shifting the boxes, all galleries get natural
outstanding and internationally recognized. Most of
illumination, combined with artificial, and the offices
the times, the reason of this is the simplicity
and the private locals on the top floors get terraces
and clearness of the concept, and its clean translation
and opening views to the cityscape.
into construction. The New Contemporary Art Museum in New York is a precious building with clear concept and strong impact. The location context, Lower Manhattan, with its squared blocks and buildings, can be considered as starting point for the Museum image: it replies the boxes surrounding, and stacks them one on top of the other in various sizes and heights, as the plot was a playground for a composition of cubes. By small but significant shifting of the cubes, the building gets dynamicity as well as an attracting shape, being different but similar to the near constructions. The program of the Museum consists of four public galleries at the first four floors, which have free and flexible spaces for exhibitions; a “white box� auditorium in the basement, Education Center at
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Getting to the guggenheim
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to 42nd St
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guggenheim museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred
of the building to end just under the ceiling skylight.
to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum located at
The building underwent extensive expansion and
1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street in
renovations in 1992 (when an adjoining tower was
the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan,
built) and from 2005 to 2008.
New York City. It is the permanent home of a continu-
The museum’s collection has grown organically,
ously expanding collection of Impressionist, Post-
over eight decades, and is founded upon several
Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art
important private collections,that happens to begin
and also features special exhibitions throughout
with Solomon R. Guggenheim’s original collection.
the year. The museum was established by the Solomon
The collection is shared with the museum’s sister
R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum
museums in Bilbao, Spain, and elsewhere. In 2013,
of Non-Objective Painting, under the guidance of its
nearly 1.2 million people visited the museum, and it
first director, the artist Hilla von Rebay. It adopted the
hosted the most popular exhibition in New York City.
current name after the death of its founder, Solomon R. Guggenheim, in 1952. In 1959, the museum moved from rented space to its current building, a landmark work of 20th-century architecture. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the cylindrical building, that’s wider at the top than the bottom, was conceived as a “temple of the spirit”. Its unique ramp gallery extends up from ground level in a long, continuous spiral along the outer edges
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Getting to the guggenheim
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washington square park Washington Square Park is a 9.75-acre (39,500 m2) public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City’s 1,900 public parks, it is a landmark as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity.[1] It is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The Park is an open space, dominated by the Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park, with a tradition of celebrating nonconformity. The Park’s fountain area has long been one of the city’s popular spots for residents and tourists. Most of the buildings surrounding the park now belong to New York University, but many have at one time served as homes and studios for artists. Some of the buildings have been built by NYU while others have been converted from their former uses into academic and residential buildings
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schedule of events May 12 2017 2.00pm
Opening party
3.00 pm
Director’s talk
4.00 pm
Movie screening—’The Virgin Suicides’
6.30 pm
Tea time break
7.00 pm
Movie Screening—’Lost in Translation’
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May 13 2017 2.00pm
Photo exhibition opens
4.00 pm
Movie screening—’Marie Antoinette’
6.30 pm
Director’s talk
7.00 pm
Movie Screening—’Somewhere’
May 14 2017 2.00pm
Movie screening—’The Bling Ring’
5.00 pm
Hit records Concert
9.00 pm
A Coppola birthday celebration
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day 01 May 12 2017 2.00pm
Opening party
3.00 pm
Director’s talk
4.00 pm
Movie screening—’The Virgin Suicides’
6.30 pm
Tea time break
7.00 pm
Movie Screening—’Lost in Translation’
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Angelika Theater. 18 W. Hudson St New York, NY 10012
Getting to The Angelika:
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at Broadway–Lafayette and Bleecker St
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day 02 May 13 2017 2.00pm
Photo exhibition opens
4.00 pm
Movie Screening—’Marie Antoinette’
6.30 pm
Director’s Talk
7.00 pm
Movie Screening—’Somewhere’
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Museum of Modern Art 11 W. 53rd St (b/w 5th & 6th Ave) New York, NY 10019 Getting to The MoMa:
E to Fifth Avenue/53rd St
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M to Rockefeller Center
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festival guide
day 03 May 14 2017 2.00pm
Movie Screening—’The Bling Ring’
5.00 pm
Hit Records Concery
9.00 pm
A Coppola Birthday Celebration
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IFC Center 323 Sixth Ave New York, NY 10014 Getting to The MoMa:
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1 to Christopher St/ Sheriden Square
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This informal photo exhibit showcases how Sofia Coppola possesses a specific artistry in the way she directs the emotional stories she tells. Through the use of her dreamlike styling, hazy filters, technique of informality and the essence of slowing down time, Sofia Coppola communicates to her audience the troubles of the upper class people who have everything face in their own lives.
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photo exhibit
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The photo exhibit showcases the special kind of photo storytelling style that Coppola chooses to depict in her movies. This informal photo exhibit showcases how Sofia Coppola possesses a specific artistry in the way she directs the emotional stories she tells. Through the use of her dreamlike styling, hazy filters, the technique of informality and the essence of slowing down time, Sofia Coppola communicates to her audience the troubles of the upper class people who have everything face in their own complicated lives. The photo exhibition is a running exhibition during the course of the film festival which opens on May 13th mid-morning and continues on until May 14th when the film festival comes to a close. The photo exhibition is taking place at a gallery down town conveniently located near multiple subway stops which will make transportation easy for the people attending the festival as well as those who simply want to attend the photo exhibition which remains open to the public.
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hit records Sofia Coppola greatly incorporates rock music as a part of her toolbox for creative film-making. Rock music is a genre that many young adults can understand and relate to. We see Lux Lisbon soothing to rock records while spending her time locked away from life. Music remains a huge part of Coppola’s personal background before her love of film-making began. Along with acting, she involved herself into making music videos for some of America’s most popular bands. She has an art to selecting the right music to communicate to her viewers the feeling she wishes to evoke. For The Virgin Suicides, Coppola handpicked the music that evokes the feelings of being a teenager in the mid-70s. Air also highlight the mood of Lost in Translation, as it successfully represents the culture gap between Japan and America. Lyrics by The Strokes helped bridge the historical story of Marie Antoinette in a new, modern way. Music by Phoenix creates a feeling of love which is perfect for Somewhere because it focuses on pure human connections between family.
the festival
Sofia Coppola greatly incorporates rock music as a part of her toolbox for creative film-making. Rock music is a genre that many young adults can understand and relate to. We also see Lux Lisbon soothing to rock records while spending her time locked away from life. Music remains a huge part of Coppola’s personal background before her love of film-making began. Along with acting, she involved herself into making music videos for some of America’s popular bands. She has an art to selecting the right music to communicate to her viewers the feeling she wishes to evoke in her films.
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4.00 pm
7.00 pm
4.00 pm
The Virgin Suicides
Lost in Translation
Marie Antoinette
Screening
Screening
Screening
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4.00 pm
2.00 pm
Somewhere
The Bling Ring
Screening
Screening
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movie reviews
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the virgin suicides Based on a novel, The Virgin Suicides relates to the story of five girls growing up in Michigan in the mid-1970’s who commit suicide for no apparent reason. FILM DETAILS Director:
Sofia Coppola
Written by:
Jeffrey Eugenides (novel) Sofia Coppola
Producers:
Francis Ford Coppola Julie Costanzo Dan Halsted Chris Hanley
Cast:
Music: Cinematography: Running Time: Studio: Release Date:
Kirsten Dunst Kathleen Turner James Woods Josh Hartnett Air Edward Lachman 1 hr 37 min American Zoetrope 21 April 2000
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There is a time in the adolescent season of every boy when a particular girl seems to have materialized in his dreams, with backlighting from heaven. Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" is narrated by an adult who speaks for "we"—as in all these boys in a Michigan suburban neighborhood 25 years ago, who loved and lusted after the Lisbon girls. We know from the title and the opening words that the girls killed themselves. Most of the reviews have focused on the girls. They miss the other subject—gawky, insecure yearning of the boys. The movie is as much about those guys, "we," as about the Lisbon girls. About how Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett), the leader of the pack, loses his baby fat and shoots up into a junior stud who is blindsided by sex and beauty, and dazzled by Lux Lisbon (Kirsten Dunst), who of the Lisbon girls is the most perfect. In every class there is one couple who has sex while the others are only talking about it, and Trip and Lux make love on the night of the big dance. But that is not the point. The point is that she wakes up
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the next morning, alone, in the football field. And the
you were in the last summer before sex. Mourn for
point is that Trip, as the adult narrator, remembers
the idealism of inexperience. Mourn for the beauty
not only that "she was the still point of the turning
that died within them, that nobody could understand
world then" and "most people never taste that kind
their quiet suffering.
of love" but also, "I liked her a lot. But out there on the
"The Virgin Suicides" provides perfunctory reasons
football field, it was different." Yes, it was. It was the
that the Lisbon girls might have been unhappy.
end of adolescence, and the beginning of a lifetime
Their mother (Kathleen Turner) is a hysteric so rattled
of compromises, disenchantments and real things.
by her daughters' blooming sexuality that she adds
First time sex is ideal only in legend. In life it attaches
cloth to their prom dresses until they appear in "four
plumbing, fluids, gropings, fumblings and pain to
identical sacks." Their father (James Woods) is the
what was only an hour ago a platonic ideal. Trip left
well-meaning but also emasculated high school math
Lux not because he was a pig, but because he was
teacher who ends up chatting about photosynthesis
a boy and broken with grief at the loss of his—their—
with his plants. All parents look gruesome to kids, and
dream. And when the Lisbon girls kill themselves,
all of their attempts at discipline seem unreasonable.
do not blame their deaths on the weird parents. Mourn
The teenage years of the Lisbon girls are no better or
for the passing of everyone you knew and everyone
worse than most teenage years. This is not the story of daughters driven to their deaths.
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The story it most reminds me of, indeed, is "Picnic at Hanging Rock", about a party of young girls, not unlike the Lisbon sisters in appearance and sexual experience, who go for a school outing one day and disappear into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Were they captured? Killed in a fall? Trapped somehow? Bitten by snakes? Simply lost in the maze
he should have added, there are hardly any happy
of nature? What happened to them is not the point.
families, especially when we are talking about families
Their disappearance is the point. One moment they
in surburban America, there are rarely families who
were smiling and bowing in their white dresses in
are happy year round.
the sun, and the next they were gone forever. The lack
To live in a family group with walls around it is
of any explanation is the whole point: For those left
unnatural for a species that evolved in tribes and
behind, they are preserved forever in the perfection
villages. What would work itself out in the give-and-
they possessed when they were last seen.
take of a community gets grotesque when allowed
"The Virgin Suicides" is Sofia Coppola's first film,
to fester in the hot house of a single-family home.
based on the much-discussed novel by Jeffrey
A mild-mannered teacher and a strong-willed
Eugenides. She has the courage to play it in a minor
woman turn into a paralyzed captive and a harridan.
key. She doesn't hammer home a lot of ideas and
The daughters see themselves as captives of these
interpretations. She is content with the air of mystery
parents, who hysterically project their own failure
and loss that hangs in the air like bitter poignancy.
upon the children.
Tolstoy said all happy families are the same. Yes, but
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The worship the girls receive from the neighbor-
tells her. "Obviously, doctor," she says, "you've never
hood boys confuses them: If they are perfect, why
been a 13-year-old girl." No, but his profession and
are they seen as such flawed and dangerous creatures?
every adult life is to a certain degree a search for the
And then the reality of sex, too young, peels back
happiness she does not even know she has. The
the innocent idealism and reveals its secret engine,
movie deals with the complex emotions that even the
which is considered animal and brutal, lustful and
Lisbon girls could not quantity and explain even in
contemptuous at the same time.
their own words.
In a way, the Lisbon girls and the neighborhood boys never existed, except in their own adolescent imaginations. They were imaginary creatures, waiting for the dream to end through death or adulthood. "Cecilia was the first to go," the narrator tells us right at the beginning. We see her also talking to a psychiatrist after she tries to slash her wrists. "You're not even old enough to know how hard life gets," he
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“We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them” —Narrator
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lost in translation A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo. FILM DETAILS Director:
Sofia Coppola
Written by:
Sofia Coppola
Producers:
Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Ross Katz
Cast:
Music:
Cinematography: Running Time: Studio: Release Date:
Scarlett Johansson Bill Murray Giovanni Ribisi Air Brian Retzell Kevin Shields Lance Acord 1 hr 41 min American Zoetrope Tohokushinsha Film 3 October 2003
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Bill Murray's acting in Sofia Coppola's award winning
comedy. But what he does in "Lost in Translation"
movie "Lost in Translation" is surely one of the most
shows as much of a reach as if he were playing Henry
exquisitely controlled performances in recent movies.
Higgins. He allows the film to be as great as Coppola
Without it, the film could be unwatchable. With it,
dreamed of it, in the way intended, and few directors
I can't take my eyes away. Not for a second, not for a
are so fortunate.
frame, does his focus relax, and seems effortless.
She has one objective: She wants to show two peo-
It's sometimes said of an actor that we can't always
ple lonely in vast foreign Tokyo and coming to the
see him acting. I can't even see him not acting. He
mutual realization that their lives are stuck. Perhaps
seems to be existing, merely existing, in the situation
what they're looking for is the same thing I've heard
created for him by Sofia Coppola.
we seek in marriage: A witness. Sofia Coppola wants
Is he "playing himself"? I've known Murray since
to get that note right. There isn't a viewer who
his days at Second City. He married the sister of a
doesn't immediately expect Bob Harris and Charlotte
girl I was dating. We were never friends, I have no
(Scarlett Johansson) to end up in love, or having
personal insights, but I can fairly say I saw how
sex, or whatever. We've also met Charlotte's husband
he behaved in small informal groups of friends, and it
John (Giovanni Ribisi). We expect him to return
wasn't like Bob Harris, his character in the movie.
unexpectedly from his photo shoot and surprise them
Yes, he likes to remain low key. Dryness and under-
together. These expectations have been sculpted,
statement come naturally to him. Sharing a stage
one chip of Hollywood's chisel after another, in tens
at Second City with John Belushi, he was a glider in
of thousands of films. The last thing we expect is
contrast to the kamikaze pilot. He isn't a one-note
what would probably actually happen. They share the
actor. He does anger, fear, love, whatever, and broad
feeling of loneliness.
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One of the strengths of Coppola's screenplay is
reasons that betray him as callow. We understand
that her people and everything they do are believable.
that Bob loves his wife and especially his children at
Unlike the characters in most movies, they don't
home in America, but after years he knows and says
quickly sense they belong together, and also they don't
that marriage and children are "hard." So they are. We
immediately want to be together. Coppola keeps
know that. Few movie characters know in the sense
them apart for a noticeably long time. They also don't
he means.
know they're the Girl and the Boy. They don't have a Meet Cute. We grow to know them separately. We understand Charlotte loves her husband,
After they start talking, Johansson is instinctive in striking the right note of tentative friendliness She knows Bob is a star, but doesn't care. Earlier their
and we also understand how he wounds her, and why
eyes met in a kind of telepathic sympathy strangers
she cries on the phone. There's no possibility he
share when they know that they're thinking the same
will cheat on her with the Other Woman, the ditzy
thing about something happening in a room. Now
"star" Kelly, played by Anna Faris. John is simply
they can't sleep and it's in the middle of the night in
a moth fluttering around her fame. That's what hurts
a hotel bar. She isn't flirting, and she isn't not flirting.
Charlotte; he leaves her alone in the hotel for silly
He isn't flirting. He's composed and detached.
He doesn't give away one hint of emotion. Without
it's about), and we can empathize with them going
making it a big deal, as if making it clear he's not
through that process. It's not a question of reading
coming on to her. Of course he finds her attractive.
our own emotions into Murray's blank slate. The slate
He did when he saw her in the elevator and didn't
isn't blank. It's on hold. He doesn't choose to wear
notice him. Or are we simply assuming he'd feel the
his heart on his sleeve for Charlotte, and he doesn't
same way as us? Maybe he noticed her because they
choose to make a move. But he is very lonely and
were the two tallest people in the elevator.
not without sympathy for her. She would plausibly
I can't tell you how many people have told me that
have sex with him, to be "nice," and because she's
just don't get "Lost in Translation." They want to
mad at her husband and it might be fun. But she also
know what it's about. They complain "nothing hap-
doesn't know as he does that if you cheat it shouldn't
pens." They've been trained by movies that tell them
be with someone it would make a difference to.
where to look and what to feel, in stories that have a
There is wonderful comedy in the film, involving
beginning, a middle and end. "Lost in Translation"
the ad agency's photo shoot for the Suntory Scotch
offers an experience in the exercise of empathy. The
commercial and Bob's guest shot on the "Japanese
characters empathize with each other (that's what
Johnny Carson." But Coppola remains firmly
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grounded in reality. The Japanese director seems to be spouting hysterical nonsense until you find a translation online and understand what he's saying and why. He is not without any humor. The translator seems to be simplifying, but now we understand what she's doing. There's nothing implausible about the scene. Anyone who watches Japanese TV, even via YouTube, knows the TV show is straight from life. Notice the microscopic look that Murray gives the camera to signal "just kidding." What is lost in translation? John understands nothing of what Charlotte says or feels, nor does he understand how he's behaving. (Ribisi's acting in the scene where he rushes out saying he loves her is remorselessly exact). Bob's wife and assistant don't understand how desperately indifferent he is to the carpet samples. And so on. What does get translated, finally, is what Bob and Charlotte are really thinking. The whole movie is about that act of translation that is taking place.
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“The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things affect you.” —Bob
The cinematography done by Lance Acord and
about, and he made that clear. And when they meet
editing by Sarah Flack make no attempt to underline
next, they step carefully around that glitch and
points or nudge us. It permits us to regard. It is
resume their deeper communication that they clearly
content to allow a moment to complete itself. Acord
established very early on.
often frames Charlotte in a big window with Tokyo
So much has been written about those few words
remotely below. She feels young, alone and exposed.
at the end that Bob whispers into Charlottes' ear.
He often shows Bob inscrutably looking straight
We can't hear them. They seem meaningful for both
ahead (not at the camera; not at anything). He feels
of them. Coppola said she didn't know. It wasn't
older, tired, patient, not exposed because he has
scripted. Advanced sound engineering has been used
a surer sense of who he is. That's what I at least read
to produce a fuzzy enhancement. Harry of "The
into the shots. What do you get? When he brings
Conversation" would be proud of it, but it's entirely
them together they are still apart, and there is more
irrelevant. Those words were not for our ears. Cop-
truth in a little finger touching the side of a foot
pola (1) didn't write the dialog, (2) didn't intentionally
than a sex scene.
record the dialogue, and (3) was happy to release the
Catherine Lambert, who plays the singer in the
movie that way, so that we don’t hear. Why must we
hotel bar, is every pretty good lounge act in the world.
know? Do we need closure? This isn't a closure kind
It's more or less a foregone conclusion that they will
of movie. We get all we need in simply knowing they
sleep with one another. In won't mean anything to
share a moment private to them, and seeing that it
either one of them. When Charlotte discovers the
contains something true before they part forever.
singer is in Bob's room, she's startled but not angry or heartbroken. Sex wasn't what she and Bob were
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“Let’s never come here again because it will never be as much fun.” —Charlotte
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marie antoinette Set in the 18th century, the movie relates the story of the infamous last queen of France, Marie Antoinette played by Kirsten Dunst. FILM DETAILS Director:
Sofia Coppola
Written by:
Sofia Coppola
Producers:
Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Ross Katz
Cast:
Music:
Cinematography: Running Time: Studio: Release Date:
Kirsten Dunst Jason Schwartzman Judy Davis Rose Byrne Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order The Cure Lance Acord 2 hr 3 min American Zoetrope 20 October 2006
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Based on the award-winning biography Marie Antoi-
everything from her Austrian life; her clothes, jewelry,
nette: The Journey by British author, Lady Antonia
friends, ladies-in-waiting, and her beloved pet Pug
Fraser, Marie Antoinette is a sympathetic account of
dog, Mops. Ushered into a tent, she is dressed in the
the private life of the last queen of France before the
elaborate French fashion before emerging onto
bloody revolution began.
the French bank as the Dauphine of France, with her
Opening in the year 1770, Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna (Kirsten Dunst), affectionately known
name translated to the French tongue. Later that day, Marie Antoinette is introduced to
as Antoine, is the beautiful, charming, but naĂŻve
King Louis XV (Rip Torn), the lewd grandfather of
youngest daughter of Austria's empress Maria
her betrothed, Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). The
Theresa (Marianne Faithfull). She is selected by her
young Dauphin himself is awkward and shy, and
mother to marry her second cousin, the Dauphin
nervously meets his fiancĂŠe. His aunts, Victoire (Molly
of France, Louis XVI, and seal an alliance between the
Shannon) and Sophie (Shirley Henderson) quietly
two rival countries. The 14-year-old girl is bundled
discuss the new Dauphine, remarking that "she looks
into a carriage and travels the long journey to a small
like a child," and mocking her Austrian roots.
island in the middle of the Rhine River, a symbolic
Marie Antoinette is shuttled to the magnificent
location representing the transition from Austrian to
Versailles, her new home. She beholds the decadent
French territory. Antoine meets the Comtesse
splendor of the palace. She is given very little time
de Noailles (Judy Davis), the mistress of the household
to adapt to her new surroundings before she and Louis
at Versailles, Antoine's future home. A traditional
are married in a lavish ceremony. The king toasts
"crossing-over" ceremony that takes place, with the
the couple, and wishing them many healthy children
Comtesse explaining that Antoine must relinquish
to produce an heir to their throne. On the wedding
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night, the marriage bed is consecrated. The newlyweds, still young and uncomfortable in their situation, fail to fulfill the expectation of intercourse. It is also reported to the king the next morning that "apparently, nothing happened." The marriage continues to be fruitless, and the Dauphine feels increasingly stifled by the palace customs, which require her to constantly be attended by an unwanted entourage of many many servants and noblewomen who neither know her nor care for her.The courtiers quietly disdain Marie Antoinette as a foreigner (an Austrian), and consistently blame her for her failure to produce an heir. Additionally, her relationship with her husband remains as distant as ever. Their sex life is nonexistent, and Louis immerses himself in his favorite hobby of studying locks and keys. The court is rife with gossip, which is relayed to Marie Antoinette by the few courtiers who are warming up to her. The King's mistress, Madame du Barry (Asia Argento), is notorious for her crude
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“Let them eat cake.”
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“Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhapiness.� —Marie Antoinette
manners and temper. She is hated by the court in
Marie Antoinette continues to adapt to her new
general, who know that the King happened to find
life over the next few years, though she and Louis
her at a brothel and had also given her a title of
have still not produced a child. She finds solace in
Comtesse in order to keep her at Versailles. Dauphine
buying lavish gowns and shoes, eating elaborate
is encouraged to shun her, but her adviser, Ambas-
cakes and pastries, and gambling with her lady friends
sador Mercy (Steve Coogan) warns that snubbing du
at cards. One night, she, her husband, her friend
Barry may put her at odds with the King, and that
the Duchesse de Polignac (Rose Byrne) and several
Marie Antoinette is already on very thin ice due to
others go incognito to a masked ball in Paris, where
her unproductive marriage. The Dauphine also
they continue in their frivolity. There she also meets
reluctantly engages in a one-sentence conversation
Swedish Count Axel von Fersen (Jamie Dornan),
with du Barry, which quells the scandal.
and there is an instant attraction.
Marie Antoinette continues to ruffle feathers by
In 1774, Louis XV passes away after a short illness.
breaching the high formality of Versailles, though she
As he could not be given his last rites due to his having
is simply trying to be warm and caring. She accom-
a mistress, du Barry is sent away from court. Louis
panies her husband on a hunting trip and passes out
XVI is crowned King and the Queen Marie Antoinette
food to the attendants and even to the dogs. She
accompanies him to Reims for the coronation
applauds at the finale of an opera, in contrast to social
Despite the growing poverty and unrest among
norms, but encourages the rest of the audience to
the French working class, Marie Antoinette continues
applaud as well. She slowly begins to settle in, and
her spending sprees and remains indifferent to the
befriends Victoire and Sophie, as well as ladies of
struggles of the people. The new King is young and
the court. She receives a letter from her mother, who
inexperienced and begins spending more money
warns her that an unconsummated marriage could
on foreign wars, sending France further into debt.
easily be annulled, and that she should make more
Marie Antoinette is delighted by a visit from her
of a sexual effort with her husband. The Dauphine
brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (Danny
unsuccessfully tries to seduce Louis that night. It is
Huston). After a warm reunion, Joseph reveals that
rumored in court that Dauphin is either impotent
their mother had sent him to council with King Louis
or a closeted homosexual.
about the mechanics of a sexual relationship (using
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the King's hobby of locks and keys as an example). Soon afterward, the King and Queen consummate their marriage at long last. Marie Antoinette becomes pregnant and delivers a baby girl, Marie Therese, in December of 1778. Though she would like to have a closer relationship with her daughter, it is not considered proper for the Queen to nurse
focuses less on her obligations as a socialite and more
the child herself. Louis presents her with the Petit
on her family, and tones down her opulent lifestyle,
Trianon, a private cottage garden on the grounds
including a decision to stop purchasing diamonds. A
of Versailles. Marie Antoinette spends much time
few months after mother's death in November
there with her friends and daughter, enjoying
1780, Marie Antoinette gives birth to a boy, Louis-Jo-
the peace and beauty of nature. After a party with
seph, the new Dauphin. Another year later, she
friends, she enters into an affair with Count
gives birth to a second boy who dies in infancy.
Fersen, who was in attendance. Despite this secret
In July 1789, the French Revolution comes into
relationship, the Queen maintains an amiable
full fruition and an angry mob begins a march from
relationship with her husband.
Paris to Versailles. As most of the nobility flees the
Over the next few years, France continues to
country, the royal family resolves to stay. The rioting
subsidize the American Revolution by giving funds
sans-culottes reach the palace and the King and
and troops to the new nation to help fight the
Queen are captured by the revolutionaries and are
British, despite the enormous expense. Food shortages
forced to leave the following morning. The film
grow more frequent, as do food riots in Paris.
then ends with the royal family's transference from
Antoinette's image with her subjects has completely
Versailles to the Tuileries for their semi-imprison-
deteriorated at this point. Her luxurious lifestyle
ment. The last image is a shot of the Queen Marie
and her apparent callous indifference to the common
Antoinette’s bedroom, destroyed by the mob.
people result in unflattering and obscene political
It is noted in the final disclaimer that Louis XVI
cartoons in the local newspapers and earn her the
was executed by the revolutionaries in early 1793 and
title "Madame DĂŠficit." Beginning to mature, she
Marie Antoinette was also beheaded several months later that same year.
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somewhere After withdrawing to the Chateau Marmont, a passionless Hollywood actor reexamines his life when his eleven-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit. FILM DETAILS Director:
Sofia Coppola
Written by:
Sofia Coppola
Producers:
Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Fred Roos Roman Coppola Paul Rassam
Cast:
Music: Cinematography: Running Time: Studio: Release Date:
Stephen Dorff Elle Fanning Phoenix Harris Savides 1 hr 37 min American Zoetrope September 11 2010
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“I’m fucking nothing.” —Johnny
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Sofia Coppola's film “Somewhere” involves, as
existential. It has nothing to do with philosophy. He
did her “Lost in Translation” (2003), a man separated
believes he's nothing, and it appears he's correct.
from his family and sitting alone in a hotel room.
This is called depression, but it may simply be a more
Its opening resembles Vincent Gallo's “The Brown
realistic view of the situation.
Bunny” (2003): a long shot of a vehicle tearing
Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) sits in a suite of the
around a track. A man racing madly to nowhere. In
Chateau Marmont, that little hotel for generations
“Lost in Translation,” Bill Murray's Bob makes
of Hollywood hideouts, and finds himself a hollow
dutiful but cheerless phone calls home from Japan.
man. He is a movie star. With that comes such
Dorff's Johnny spends dutiful time with his 11
options as money, fame, sex, drugs. Fame is a joke
year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning). Neither seems
because he gets nothing from it. Sex involves
meaningfully connected.
mechanical manipulations of the genitals. He drinks and takes drugs and gets a little wound up but pleasure doesn't seem to be involved. On two occasions, he hires twin blond strippers
Because so much of “Somewhere” is set at the Chateau Marmont, it might be useful to discuss it. It isn't cheap, but nobody goes there to indulge in
to come to his room, set up their portable equipment
conspicuous consumption. What it offers above all
and do choreographed pole dances. No sex is
is a management that minds its own business.
involved. He is demonstrating the truth that if you
What happens at the Chateau Marmont stays at the
stare long enough at that wall, it will break the
Chateau Marmont. It's often linked with another
monotony if blond twins do pole dances in front of it.
semiresidential legend a few blocks away, the Sunset Marquis. The Chateau, is more useful for clients
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who want not so much privacy as retreat. There's a
employees, but during work, they function as parents
scene where Johnny nods to Benicio Del Toro in
and guardians. The star's contract requires him to
the elevator. I'll bet you del Toro was actually staying
do some press. The phone rings, and the publicist
there at the time. They are both simply waiting for
tells the star where to go and what to do. He takes
their floors.
on a certain passivity. The car is there, he takes the
The notion of a star sinking into seclusion and
car. The press is there, he talks to the press. Some
depression isn't new. Gus Van Sant's “Last Days”
stars are more interested and interesting. Not Johnny.
(2005) starred Michael Pitt as a character unmistakably
He flies to Milan to accept an award, and the event
inspired by Kurt Cobain. What distinguishes Cop-
plays like a bus ride with a jacuzzi.
pola's film is the detail in her portrait of celebrity life.
He seems to suffer from anhedonia, the inability
Remember that she was a little girl, later a young
to feel pleasure. Perhaps he hardly feels anything.
actress on the sets of her father's movies. Now that
The film only indirectly suggests some of the reasons
we see how observant she is, we can only speculate
he got this way. It is not a diagnosis, still less a
about what she understood right from the start. She
prescription. Johnny stares at the wall and the film
played Michael Corleone's baby.
stares back at him.
“Somewhere,” which won the Golden Lion at
This is more interesting than it may sound. Cop-
the 2010 Venice Film Festival, has, an unusually accu-
pola watches this world. The familiar strangers on the
rate portrait of how publicists work from the client's
hotel staff are on a first-name basis because a star's
point of view. Some become friends, some remain
world has become reduced to his support. Hookers
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and sex partners come and go. There are many parties filled with strangers, most of them not excited to see a star because they see stars constantly. Then his daughter. What led to the divorce Cleo probably knows better than he does. The child of an actor, she has learned to play a star. She observes his drinking, his detached attempts at fatherhood, the woman he makes no attempt to explain at breakfast. Why does a man like this inflict partial custody on a blameless child? Coppola is a fascinating director. She sees, and we see exactly what she sees. There is little attempt here to observe a plot. All the attention is on the handful of characters, on Johnny. He has attained success in his chosen field, and lost track of the ability to experience it. Perhaps you can stimulate yourself so much for so long that your sensitivity wears out. If Johnny has no inner life and his outer life no longer matters, then he's right: He's nothing.
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the bling ring A teenager, and his gang of fame-obsessed youths use the Internet to track the wherabouts of celebrities, then rob their homes. FILM DETAILS Director:
Sofia Coppola
Written by:
Sofia Coppola Nancy Jo Sales
Producers:
Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Roman Coppola Youree Henley
Cast:
Music:
Cinematography: Running Time: Studio: Release Date:
Katie Chang Israel Broussard Emma Watson Taissa Farmiga Daniel Lopatin Brian Reitzell Harris Savides 1 hr 30 min American Zoetrope 21 June 2013
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Shadowy figures circle a glass-walled house. They find
and Marc Hall. Rebecca and Marc meet at an alterna-
an unlocked door and enter; once inside, they head
tive high school in Calabasas, soon become close
straight for the bedroom. Sleigh Bells' "Crown on the
friends. Thrill-seeking petty thefts lead to burglaries
Ground"—scrunched guitar and speaker-wrecking
and joyrides. At first they steal from neighbors and
drums—kicks in. The figures' faces are now visible;
acquaintances, but soon begin to target celebrities,
they're high school kids — several girls and a boy.
including Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel
They open the door of the bedroom closet and start
Bilson and Paris Hilton, whose house they are able to
grabbing necklaces, shoes and purses.
burglarize repeatedly without being noticed at all.
This is the first scene of "The Bling Ring," Sofia Coppola's unvarnished and occasionally problematic account of a string of burglaries committed by LA
Scouring gossip blogs for information, they wait until their targets are out of town to strike. Rebecca and Marc's "gang" quickly expands to
teenagers in 2008 and 2009. Opening credits identify
include Chloe (Claire Julien), Sam (Taissa Farmiga),
"The Bling Ring" as "based on actual events," instead
and Nicki (Emma Watson), who is a stand-in for
of using the more common phrase "based on a true
the group's most notorious member, Alexis Neiers.
story"; this might seem like a minor distinction, but
Chang, Broussard, Julien, and Farmiga all deliver
it's an important one, because "story" implies a certain
uniformly strong, naturalistic performances; Watson,
structure and viewpoint. Coppola's approach to the
however, is The Bling Ring's premier scene stealer.
subject is largely impartial; depending on the viewer,
She plays Nicki as a sort of social mutant, the product
this can seem refreshing or off-putting. Katie Chang
of vapid New Age parenting irradiated with near
and Israel Broussard star as the Ring's leaders, Rachel
lethal doses of tabloid culture, which is less a personal-
Lee and Frank Prugo, here renamed Rebecca Ahn
ity than a collection of wants in search of immediate.
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The movie's structure is programmatic; the gang party, then rob, then party, then rob, over and over. There's not much in the way of narrative progression; like Coppola's under-appreciated Somewhere (2010), The Bling Ring is more interested in describing a state of being—the mild numbness which comes with living at a safe distance from anything resembling hardship. They steal several millions of dollars in jewelry and clothes, and most of which they keep for themselves; not content with being merely wealthy, they desire the lives of the super-rich. Regardless of how much money and comfort you have, there's always someone to envy. The Bling Ring" represents the final work of Harris Savides, who is arguably the greatest American cinematographer of the past 15 years. (Savides died of brain cancer while the film was in post-production; "The Bling Ring" is dedicated to him.) Working in long, pliable takes, Savides and co-cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt are key in establishing the movie's impartial tone; the scene where Rebecca and Marc rob reality TV star Audrina Patridge’s house.
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This is presented as a single wide shot with a glacial zoom — is emblematic of the movie's detached, observational world view. However, a few things complicate Coppola's approach. For one, there is her disruptive use of stills and videos of celebrities; it's meant to imitate the characters' viewpoints—constantly looking at pictures in magazines and on websites — but instead breaks the visual rhythm established by Savides and Blauvelt. The implication is that these robberies are just an extension of the characters' image consumption that these possessions are first and foremost primarily cool pictures—but it's conveyed in such a way that's so heavy-handed that it becomes a distraction. For another, there's the involvement of actual celebrities in a movie that's overtly only about celebrity envy. Paris Hilton and Kirsten Dunst have non-speaking cameos as themselves; more importantly, Hilton's real house is used throughout the film. The characters gawk at Hilton's real possessions and rifle through her real closets.
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“I’m a firm believer in Karma and I think this situation is a huge learning lesson for me. I want to lead a country one day for all I know.” —Nicki
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This points to the movie's most serious problem:
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That sensitivity is largely absent in "The Bling
the "impartial" viewpoint. Is "The Bling Ring" a movie
Ring"; in its place is a void. Coppola neither makes
about characters ogling at celebrities, or is it an
a case for her characters nor places them inside of
excuse for the audience to ogle along with them?
some kind of moral or critical framework; they simply
While Coppola's attitude toward the Bling Ring
pass through the frame, listing off name brands and
isn't entirely sympathetic, it isn't overtly critical either;
staring at their phones. About an hour into the film,
in fact, it often comes off as blasé.
one starts to get the nagging feeling that Coppola's
All of Coppola's films have focused on characters
"neutrality" is a dodge; she avoids moral commitment,
that are isolated from the world—like movie stars
thereby creating a movie ambiguous enough to
("Lost in Translation", "Somewhere"), royalty ('Marie
be interpreted in several ways, but too vague to have
Antoinette"), a strict family ("The Virgin Suicides").
much meaning in any interpretation.
Because the protagonists of most of these films happen to be wealthy —after all, isolation is a luxury—and because Coppola has never shown much interest in depicting the world that these protagonists have separated themselves from, her work has often been accused of cultural myopia. While that criticism isn't entirely unearned ("Lost in Translation", for one, is marred by ugly ethnic stereotyping), it overlooks the sensitivity that she brings to the material.
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“Let’s go to Paris’. I want to rob” —Nicki
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lost in translation
Lost Connections Festival Kavya Sivaraman/04005890 GR612/Integrated Communications Fall ‘17 Instructor/Hunter Wimmer