Somewhere (2010) 6/26

Only Sofia Coppola could tell this story, or that's at least what I thought while watching this very quiet and steady film.   Funny and captivating, she writes and directs a story about a famous actor juggling with his career and with being a father to a teenage girl with an insider's eye.   There's a lot going on in this film; it's all subtext and that's why this film is so good, better than its paper thin plot might deserve.  Stephen Dorff is the perfect actor to play this part and he does a fine job keeping his performance subtle and relaxed.  You have to applaud him for his work because many lesser actors would have wanted to "act it up" and chewed up the scene but here he trusts his director and keeps it real.   Then there's Elle Fanning who is starting to emerge as good of an actress as her older sister, maybe better.  I don't expect most viewers to enjoy this film because nothing really happens and it's not laugh out loud funny.  But its art as only film can be and it expresses a mountain of complex human issues that opens up to an array of interpretations.  Yeah, that's right, it's an art film, a personal one from an director who continues to use film as her canvas to explore instead of using it purely to entertain.  Grade: A-.