Sofia CopPOLLa

I watched and enjoyed Marie Antoinette today, leaving only Somewhere to get me caught up. Peculiar, quiet, occasionally moving movie which, much like Virgin Suicides and The Beguiled, is about women trapped somewhere. Dunno why this was so bad and hated at release; maybe the Chucks in that one shot really sent people up the wall

fasted I've ever voted in a poll

(Virgin Suicides)

Own 2 of these (Marie Antoinette and Lost in Translation), have seen them all. I really liked her take on The Beguiled, but I'm voting MA.

voted A Very Murray Christmas

Virgin Suicides followed by the Marie Antoinette trailer that used “Age of Consent“

echoing Simon

I admit I never saw the last 2. The first 4 offered progressively diminishing returns

exactly the same for me

It's gonna be one of the first three, likely TVS or MA. But The Beguiled strikes me as an attempt to break out of her cheerful anomie -- no diminishing returns even if it's a failure.

*weak curmudgeonly high five* xp

beguiled was def an intriguing move, but v disappointing in execution imo

sure

Her first three are great, Somewhere sucks, and The Beguiled does nothing to improve upon the not-great-but-certainly-interesting Eastwood original. Still haven’t seen The Bling Ring.

Voting LiT.

The Bling Ring is good enough to vote for based on the options

Almost a straight line down, although I liked The Bling Ring a little more than Somewhere.

(And Lost in Translation is great--don't mean to imply otherwise.)

marie antoinette. virgin suicides runner up

i don’t share the opinion that her career is a full-on downhill slide but jeffrey eugenides also peaked with the virgin suicides

Godfather III

Further clarification: The Beguiled is the first film of hers I didn't like at all, and I'm much more optimistic about new work from her than I am from Wes Anderson (those two and PTA always exist side-by-side-by-side in my mind because I first saw The Virgin Suicides, Boogie Nights, and Rushmore in such close proximity).

I've seen all these, but none more than once. I liked The Virgin Suicides at the time but it was so long ago – I didn't even know who Kirsten Dunst was then – I can't really vote for my hazy memory of it. It's Marie Antoinette that stayed with me. Somewhere was truly awful.

Somewhere was about as good as a movie with Stephen Dorff in it could hope to be.

I don't think it matters much if we've only seen a film once; there are hundreds of films I loved that I wouldn't watch again.

I really like all of her films except The Bling Ring, which I should see again. Somewhere was beautiful, it was observant and quietly moving I thought

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Shit already? I should’ve made this longer, I haven’t seen Somewhere yet!

I think I voted for Marie Antoinette since the xmas special wasn't an option

Chauvinistic of me to leave it off but I hope you’ll excuse it.

I liked The Virgin Suicides. I watched Lost in Translation and hated it so much that I never watched another of her movies.

voted for Somewhere

Me too, but Lost in Translation will win, deservedly so.

I think Marie Antoinette will win unless the lurker vote is huge

Lurkers be lurkin

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

much respect for Bling Ring voters

Antoinette def her best movie. Somewhere unwatchable.

^^ this

revisited Virgin Suicides and it fucked me up good. very much worth a revisit. secret weapon: Brian Reitzell's music supervision, top notch except for the Sloan song.

I can accept that Marie Antoinette is simply Not For Me but Lost in Translation placing over VS is a travesty.

also was stunned to recognize the oldest of the younger, nicer squad of boys as future buff character actor Jonathan Tucker

The playing-songs-over-the-phone sequence is so legendary for me and a friend...we refer to it as the playing-songs-over-the-phone sequence. But I disagree about Lost in Translation; they're pretty close for me.

that sequence and the reveal of Trip's present-day existence hit me hardest this watch

despite the title it is, among other things, a great movie about masculinity

Rehab Trip is sad. Also incredible is Trip's introduction, walking down the hallway to "Magic Man" (which I think some commercial copied). And the prom, and the Air-scored reveries, and on and on.

James Woods is pretty great as the supremely pathetic dad, too.

I didn't read the novel until last summer.

is the film as faithful to the book as I've always been led to believe?

I remember it being so, but I also read it to the Air soundtrack, so that may have helped link the two.

(The soundtrack album came out a few months before wide release of the film and I think prompted me to buy the book)

Trip later in life is almost funny the way it fulfills every fantasy of every high school kid who wasn't Trip: "One day you'll be sad and broken and sitting in rehab reminiscing about the last time in your life you were happy." Cf. also young Albert Brooks in Broadcast News.

is the film as faithful to the book as I've always been led to believe?

― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, August 10, 2020 1

Uncannily so.

Saw On the Rocks this afternoon (which I wasn't even aware of until someone mentioned it to me yesterday). There's an interesting twist towards the end (employing a modern-day cliché I won't discuss*)--so is this directed at dad?--but I found the build-up exceedingly ordinary. Couldn't figure out where I knew Rashida Jones from: The Social Network (I probably made the same observation then--she looks like Laurie Metcalf. For me, she's very bland.

*gotta nail that door shut air-tight

Jones wears, at various times, a Beastie Boys T-shirt, a Run-DMC T-shirt, and a Paris Review T-shirt. Sometimes I like touches like that, sometimes not. Felt a little forced here.

Thought On the Rocks was slight but sweet; much better than The Beguiled and infinitely better than Somewhere (I really should get on The Bling Ring one of these days). I liked Jones' t-shirts and apartment.

For the life of me, I can't think of what the "twist" is that clemenza is referring to--and I just finished watching the film an hour ago!

Looking at my post, and if I'm remembering correctly, I must have been thinking of the revelation that the woman she thought her husband was cheating with is gay. Does that make sense?

Or maybe that's not what I meant--why did I say "Is this directed at dad?" I'd have to watch it again.

I figured, though I think it was your comment about "directed at dad" that threw me.

I kinda kept waiting for the point you mentioned to come up in conversation between Jones and Wayans, but I suppose it would have come off as too defensive on the part of Wayans.

I almost want to watch it again to figure out what the hell I meant.

watched Somewhere again, still think it is one of Sofia Coppola’s best films. The flat matter-of-fact photography, the references to other movies, and the staging of scenes are all memorable. I liked its story of a preteen girl living an as yet unexamined privileged life in LA, who is loved from a distance but who also feels abandoned, and of her celebrity father who realizes he is a failure

Always meant to watch it again, never have.

Yeah i'd have voted for Somewhere it's fantastic.

it was quiet and watchful

Someone reminded me about this yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxbZyvCJc6U

Looking forward to it with considerably more enthusiasm than Asteroid City. (Should I know that song? Quite like it.)

The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSK2CB-rHBs

Thanks. I have a couple of shoe-gazey compilations from that era ('92)--it seems very familiar, maybe I know it from there.

Actually, check that: "'How You Satisfy Me' by Spectrum sampled Evie Sands's 'I Can't Let Go'"--that's why it's so familiar.

Priscilla = rules. A remarkably quiet (not silent) film, pointedly so. As remarkable a portrayal of a fishbowl existence as I've seen which of course suits Coppola to a T, the vibe is almost weirdly like Ibsen's A Doll's House crossed with...well Goodfellas may seem a VERY strange comparison but beyond the excellence of the music cues, both 'in time' and anachronistic (Spectrum thankfully is not limited to that trailer, and the opening choice of song alone is amazing), it's as if this is what the story is of a closed circuit of existence during the arc of fifteen years where the 'big' historical events aren't touched/aren't necessary, while she has to spend her time while all the boys do whatever.

Very interested in this.

There's a really good Times story on Coppola from last week. I really think she's got an amazing catalog; I mean, yeah, they're all movies about girls and women trapped in castles, but every Walter Hill movie is a Western, if you ask him. (In the linked piece she discusses a project that fell apart — an adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Custom Of The Country — that I actually don't think would have worked. I'd rather see Greta Gerwig adapt that book.)

Can't wait.

I'd watch a Coppola adaptation of The House of Mirth.

I remember someone saying "all her films are about how it's not easy being a rich white girl" - there's certainly something true there, but every film-maker has their favourite theme, and she has explored hers well.

(typed this, saw unperson said almost exactly the same but put it much better two posts up, clicked submit post anyway, sorry)

If anything Priscilla goes against that stereotype to some degree by being a story about a military brat whose parents are at most middle-class suddenly hitting the high life. (Speaking as a military brat myself, though any equation stops there, I think that's a clear enough subtext in the film too throughout -- ordered to go and stay somewhere throughout for a long while until that can't hold.)

I didn't realize she got so much pushback from Lisa Marie, but it does explain why Elvis's official estate has been so nasty towards this film - not just refusing to license Elvis's music but also disparaging it even before it came out. (I was initially shocked because the film was clearly authorized by Priscilla, but Lisa Marie's emails explains the disparity.) I cringed when the monstrosity Baz Luhrmann vomited up was cited as a example of what should be done with Elvis's legacy.

Regardless, I'm definitely seeing Priscilla - I haven't been the biggest fan of Sofia Coppola's work, but I'm impressed by how she's grown as a filmmaker. Each of her films have been a marked progression over the last one in some way - they're not necessarily better than the last, but they show a filmmaker who has grown as an artist.

And FWIW, she also makes regular public appearances at screenings in NYC - the first time I saw her introduce a film, it seemed like she wasn't used to doing any public speaking, but since then she's come off as not only very intelligent, thoughtful and articulate, she's also been very gracious and kind to her fans, and she clearly has a devoted following. (One moment I'll always remember - I attended a discussion with Jane Campion, not realizing that Coppola was later announced as the moderator. Great discussion, they were obviously longtime friends. Afterwards when Campion was kind enough to sign my copy of the Criterion Collection's Sweetie Blu-ray, Coppola leaned over as she continued to sign for other fans because she was curious to see what Criterion had included on their reissue.)

I do think the lack of Elvis music actually makes the film work even better -- basically it sets aside what tends to be his get-out-of-jail-free card, the performances themselves and all (the most we get is a recreated snippet of the Comeback Special and some 70s arena shots filmed from behind, as seen in the trailers) in favor of dealing with the guy himself, and Coppola clearly had already shown range and interest with her musical choices for the movies in the past so it's a logical follow-on.

Oh and one of the biggest pluses of the movie is the utter lack of Colonel Tom Parker -- he's only an unheard voice at the end of various phone conversations with Elvis; however much of a reflection of real life it could equally have been as well in terms of Priscilla's dealing with that side of things, it also acts as a very handy counterbalance to, you know, whatever Tom Hanks was doing for Luhrmann.

It seems like a mark in the movie’s favor that Elvis Inc. wants nothing to do with it. It’s her story, not his. Hope to see it soon.

yeah this was great, looks great, excellent performances all around.

kind of forms a trilogy with Lost in Translation and Somewhere of girls/women stuck and isolated in unfamiliar rooms.

My friend and I were the only two people in the theatre for an afternoon screening. "Flat" she thought, to which I'd add that the whole film seemed to take place in a vacuum, with virtually nothing of the outside world (if you didn't have some familiarity with Elvis's story, you'd be lost as to a timeline). Which is probably an accurate description of her life, even if that doesn't necessarily translate to the best viewing experience.

I'm not sure why Sofia Coppola wanted to make this film based on what's on the screen. No special insight that I could glean. Elvis had a temper but wasn't abusive. He wasn't faithful but didn't appear to be a philandering monster. She felt trapped at times, but all in all, she ended the film still loving him. (There seemed to be a bit of a Ronnie Spector subtext if you factor in the soundtrack.)

Thought the two leads were okay. But this is the third film in row of Coppola's I haven't cared for.

kind of forms a trilogy with Lost in Translation and Somewhere of girls/women stuck and isolated in unfamiliar rooms.

A trilogy she probably completed with her first three films--#2 and #3 definitely, and I think The Virgin Suicides fits that description, too, in the sense that the Libson sisters were stuck and isolated in general.

Yeah I need to rewatch that, I somehow only saw it on release.

Recently finally saw the Beguiled (which is great btw) and it’s the same thing.

This is a good little essay https://www.welcometohellworld.com/when-i-call-i-need-to-know-youll-be-home/

I'm with clem. I've seen this film before, heard these beats before. Other than closeups of possessions like makeup and of manicured toes, the last hour played like every TV film of the week of my childhood other than Coppola's shrewd denial of a climactic sex season b/w Elvis 'n' Priscilla. Cailee Spaeny deserves the kudos.

Somewhere is really underrated.

Something I don't understand:

It seems like a mark in the movie’s favor that Elvis Inc. wants nothing to do with it. It’s her story, not his.

Just before the film started, I told my friend there almost certainly wouldn't be any Elvis music because Priscilla was shunning the film, based on my idea that Elvis Inc. was Priscilla at this point, that it was her who more or less controlled the Elvis estate. Then the movie started, with a credit that Priscilla was the film's executive producer.

So the estate is one thing, and she has nothing to do with that?

So the estate is one thing, and she has nothing to do with that?

Elvis Presley Enterprises is a corporation owned by American Brands Group; Priscilla's not part of it. Lisa Marie was, and now her estate owns a 15% share which is likely to be divided among her three daughters.

Thanks. I don't know if she got frozen out of the estate or what happened, but in view of that, and her role executive producing the film (and it's based on a book by her, I think), I'd say this is a fairly even-handed, even sympathetic portrayal of Elvis. Not a saint, by any means, but not even in the same universe as Phil Spector or Ike Turner (two somewhat comparable dynamics that come to mind...I'm not comparing Elvis to a murderer/psycho or abuser--that's my point).

That's all been settled as of May: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-11-03/lisa-marie-presley-estate-settlement-priscilla-presley-riley-keough

Sorry, I meant to say the initial part was hammered out in May, the final agreement last week

Thematically this seems like an excruciating watch, but aesthetically… I’m probably gonna see it.

it's not excruciating. it is certainly very slow. it is gorgeous to look at, and the performances are all mostly great even if I didn't buy Elordi as Elvis most of the time.

I'm amazed to find it playing near me, but I guess there are so few movies actually making it to theaters now that when you're running a 14-plex you've gotta take everything you can get.

I didn't find it excruciating or slow -- it's edited with crispness and intelligence -- just predictable.

Honestly, I'm not sure it has any themes, Raymond. Not that I'm calling for turgid "message" films, but something in that department might have helped--again, I wonder why she felt she had to make this. Priscilla wants Elvis to spend more time at home; I think I probably knew that. She wishes he weren't all over gossip columns with Ann-Margret and Nancy Sinatra; ditto. She'd like to have sex more often. Okay, that's interesting. Even Priscilla's age is treated rather stoically at the beginning, filtered more through attitudes at the time than those of today. Her own parents don't seem all that agitated by Elvis wanting her to come over, or at least not as an age issue; they seem more preoccupied with the decorum of courtship. All it takes are a few respectful words from Elvis's army buddy and they're on board--never mind that this is the guy who a few years earlier turn the country upside down because of his unchecked lasciviousness.

I liked this, my wife loved it; I think especially for Priscilla's attempts to figure out and express her femininity versus the version of it her husband and society foist upon her. It's a predictable story but I think the elements are handled with a bit more deftness than indicated above. Most everyone in this movie is in thrall to someone or something they feel is beyond their control. Besides Priscilla, her parents recognize that through Elvis's persistence over a period of years and their daughter's feelings, her course is largely set, and they can only mitigate the damage to their relationship with her. All of Elvis's friends and hangers-on are literally at his beck and call, and Elvis himself feels totally in thrall to the unseen Colonel and helpless in his career. It's an almost Edith Wharton-like situation for all involved, but Priscilla is the one to finally break free in the end.

And further RE: the movie's femininity, I think the highly aesthetic and minute observations and of Priscilla's daily life and routines in this surreal atmosphere are something only Coppola would have brought to this story.

Just saw this Friday, really enjoyed it. Reminded me most of Virgin Suicides and at least the early sections of Marie Antoinette, the sense of powerlessness and being trapped by virtue only of being young women in particular circumstances. (As a trilogy, they're a group portrait of oppressed femininity through the ages.)

Also to Chris L's point just above, I had that thought during a lingering close-up of her makeup and perfume bottles. Coppola has always insisted on the meaning and significance of female presentation, I think with a complexity that it's easy to overlook. She sees those things as tools of oppression and control but also avenues to self-expression and self-assertion. Cailee Spaeny is really good, and I liked Elordi too even if he was distractingly tall.