Somewhere ****

Basically, Sofia Coppola's new movie 'Somewhere' shows everything that I find so appealing about Los Angeles and Hollywood - and it does a fine job at that. I'm simply fascinated by the City Of Angels: not only because of its supreme basketball team, but also by its broad lanes going nowhere and everywhere ('Mulholland Drive', check), by the bright night city lights that you see in 'Collateral', by the odd people that wander around on its sun-bleached sidewalks (if you haven't seen 'The Big Lebowski', do it now), and just by the sheer mystery the place that seems to unite so many extremities in a city that's not even a real city, breathes from every pore.

Okay, maybe I'm just a hopeless movie buff who's mislead by so many great 'LA Movies' - besides the aforementioned I also devoured 'Point Blank', 'Heat' and. 'Greenberg'. 'Somewhere' now adds an accolade to the 'LA Movie' genre.

There's something about Sofia Coppola's movies (I get the same with Wes Anderson's films) that sets them apart from the rest of the pack. They're not always the fastest ('Virgin Suicides'), the flashiest ('Lost In Translation') or even the best ones out there ('Marie Antoinette'), but their look and feel appeal to me in a way that no other movie ever could. They depict normal people, living their lives, but somehow, through beautiful storytelling, photography and scoring, those lives become special.

'Somewhere' is no different. It tells the story of the hard-living Hollywood moviestar Johnny Marco (who could've known that Stephen Dorff can actually act?) who lives at the mythical Chateau Marmont hotel, spending his days inviting strippers to his apartment and driving around in his Ferrari. Then he gets to spend some time with his 11-year old daughter Cleo (a wonderfully natural Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota), which somehow brings him back to his senses.

Just being with his daughter - taking her to skating class, playing Guitar Hero (great to hear some Police music on the big screen), going on a field trip to Milan, enjoying dinner with her - takes him out of the rat race that had gotten the better of him. He then suffers a breakdown and decides to turn his life around.

'Somewhere' is beautifully photographed by D.O.P. Harris Savides ('Greenberg', 'Zodiac', 'American Gangster', even 'The Game' back in 1993), who put together still frames wherein the actors do their thing. The movie's scored by French pop group Phoenix. Just like Air did with 'The Virgin Suicides' and Kevin Shields did with 'Lost In Translation', the music makes the images bathe in thin air and makes the movements and expressions of the actors wonderfully light and slightly unearthly.

Add Coppola's knack for sublimating the smaller things in life and putting them on the forefront, thus creating a wonderful story about simple delights and emotions, and you got yourself a winner.

SOME THINGS I LIKED ABOUT 'SOMEWHERE':

- The sound of a Ferrari, which is featured throughout the movie;

- The opening scene, where beautiful blonde twins perform a breathtaking pole dance to the tune of The Foo Fighters' 'My Hero';

- Stephen Dorff wearing a Black Flag shirt when he gets the head cast at the SFX-department;

- Father and daughter playing Guitar Hero to The Police's 'So Lonely'.

SOME THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:

Chris Pontius really should stick to getting hurt in 'Jackass', because he looks hopelessly out of place in this film - even next to 11-year old Elle Fanning.