Somewhere

In mining her own privileged childhood, Sofia Coppola has crafted an assured and quietly beautiful film. The story of a hollowed-out A-list star rescued by his preteen daughter from a world of meaningless relationships and casual decadence, Somewhere focuses on quietly introspective moments over heavily plotted scenes. Former heartthrob Stephen Dorff, an inspired casting choice, perfectly captures the sweet-natured loneliness of Johnny Marco, an in-demand actor who has everything from fast sports cars to in-room pole dances, yet yearns for something he can't quite express. Elle Fanning, who portrays Marco's daughter, Cleo, with Coppola's signature mix of girlish precociousness and adult maturity, displays a natural chemistry that lends the laidback film an improvisational feel. Coppola's carefully staged, wide-open frames and long, tension-filled takes add uneasy drama, while the lush grittiness of the cinematography by Harris Savides lingers long after the final, ambiguous scene. The Chateau Marmont, an L.A. hotel long famous for its debaucherous parties and elite clientele, serves as Marco's transient residence, and, with its well-worn interiors and never-ending stream of visitors, becomes a character all its own. Somewhere follows a man who doesn't know where he wants to go, but knows where he doesn't want to be—it's Coppola's most personal and poetic exploration yet of this simple, but life-changing, realization.