Somewhere Review

• 28th Mar 2011

For anyone who has been wondering just where the hell Stephen Dorff has been hiding (Direct to DVD hell is the answer some may provide) then this will put smiles on faces.  Despite having a very small role in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies last year, Dorff finally lands a leading man role in mainstream cinema for quite some time.

For anyone familiar with Sofia Coppola’s work this won’t come as too much of a surprise as most of the film takes part in the quieter moments of life where sounds and observing the world and atmosphere around oneself simply act to reflect the mood of the characters. Coppola knows when to hold the camera at a distance as if to uneasily spy on our characters or if to get right up in the faces when moments are a little warmer.

This is immediately very similar to Lost In Translation. It’s a similar tone and style of shooting, even if not perhaps quite so interesting. The reason for this is, that for a large part of the film, Dorff’s character has very little extended interaction with anyone until his daughter shows up and it is in these scenes that we see more of the dramatic interplay between characters.

Dorff, we can see, is far from past his prime and has aged very well for his late 30’s. He also reminds us of what it was that put him on the block in the first place – his choice in low budget indies before he got all loud and in our face with Blade and what followed. (Don’t get me wrong, I loved him in Blade, but it was a role that opened the pit of the action movie swagger and closed the portal that he honed his acting skills from).

Much of this film’s enjoyment will depend on how much you enjoy Dorff as an actor and how anti-celebrity you are, as we literally follow Dorff as a celebrity around and are asked whether we want to sympathize with him or not.

Personally, I’m pro-Dorff so as much as the film may repeat beats and really take it’s time getting there I was in no hurry for it to end. And by the end I was more pleased than I was expecting to be. It won’t be a film I will watch again in a hurry but it is one I will remember Dorff for and have kind words to say about it.

Steven Hurst