somewhere?

sophia's not my cup of tea, but i can't say i didn't enjoy watching it. with SOMEWHERE, her latest effort in directing, she not so much tells a story as captures a snapshot of a lifestyle and its implications.

many critics have compared this to european cinema, and this comparison makes sense. the film is quiet. the script is not full of words. the acting is generally genuine and not forced.

but if film directors are storytellers, one should expect them to tell a story. instead, miss coppola presents many prolonged snapshots from the perspective of an unassuming observer, seemingly expecting her audience to hyper-intellectualize the subject matter of her chosen moving images in order to reach a conclusion or formulate their own version of a storyline.

from my experience, good european cinema doesn't do that... so why the comparison? this is narrative minimalism to an extreme, and although it can be mildly entertaining to peek into the life of a fictional hollywood star and his lack of a family life, this seems to be less of storytelling and more of studying character in the form of a feature film.