Review of Somewhere (2010) by Volpino — 25 Apr 2011

The only good thing about Somewhere was the irony of the title: This film was nowhere.

We are invited into a star's empty existence. I get it. This particular look at such a life was drawn, prolonged agony. The main character may have been suffering emptiness, even depression, but in no way was the pain and suffering of that particular affliction even explored, let alone the character's inner experience. We are not invited to like him or dislike him, we remain ambiguous, which is story suicide. Character and story are one and the same. Watching this film I was frustrated, as I felt I was offered neither. Yes there were subtleties. Indeed there were beautiful shots. The settings were sound, the support cast middling to good, Dorf himself wasn't so bad considering he had so much silence to undertake. There was even artistic merit to the whole thing - I liked the idea! And that's what disappointed me the most - seeing that great idea, those characters, those settings and watching it go nowhere. There was no story. A European look at an American life, sure. However, did Johnny Marco change? We don't know. A classic American film might see him change somehow. A European tale might see him be invited to but not. Thus each side of the pond look at the human condition slightly differently, if you can excuse the generalisation. At no point is Johnny under any real pressure, though. And that is the problem and the reason why Johnny cannot change. Why should he? He's not being challenged. Neither, unfortunately, is the viewer.