If Sofia Coppola's brand of wistful melancholy appeals to you, you will like this movie.

One has to wonder if the emotions and themes explored in this story about a young girl with a super-famous dad aren't largely autobiographical. Stephen Dorff plays the dad, a hugely popular action star whose personal life gives a new definition to ennui. The film unfolds in a series of noncommittal vignettes as we watch him go through the motions of promoting a new film while spending some on again/off again time with his teenage daughter. The movie is sad, but not depressingly so. It's my sense that the world of the rich and famous just IS sad, one where things like a never-ending quest for fame and material things has replaced anything more fulfilling.

Those who get impatient with Coppola's taciturn directing and writing are justified. I found myself becoming impatient a few times while watching this film. But on the other hand, there's something about her ruminative, mellow style, and her refusal to tell us how to feel about her characters and stories, that I find immensely appealing.

Grade: A-

I actually wanted to love Somewhere. While I didn't think much of Marie Antoinette, finding it beautiful but too shallow and anachronistic, I absolutely loved Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides, both were glacially paced in a deliberate sense, but they were amazing-looking, brilliantly written, moving and thoughtful with some of the actors such as Bill Murray and Kirsten Dunst giving their career-best work.

Was there anything I liked about Somewhere? Yes. Quite a bit actually. The visuals, like all of Sofia Coppola's movies are gorgeous with some of the most beautiful photography and scenery I've seen I've seen from any film in about a quarter of a year. The music compliments the visuals very well, with a reflective and poignant feel to it. Then there are the two leads, Elle Fanning is wonderful, in fact I'm trying to think of any other film she's done where she was this engaging and I can't think of one. Stephen Dorff is cast against type, and is also very good, but I found Fanning's character easier to relate to.

However, as much as I admired what Somewhere tried to do, apart from the wonderful production values and lead acting, it didn't do anything for me. For one thing, I found the film rather dull for reasons other than the pace as well as that. Just for the record, I do like/love movies that are slow-paced, The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Vertigo and Brokeback Mountain are four of my all-time favourites, and I have a lot of admiration for The Tree of Life, Drive, Lost in Translation and The Fountain, although about half of these movies are the not-for-everybody sort of movies.

So the fact that Somewhere was slow-paced was not the problem. It's just that I found a lot of scenes very lengthy and drawn-out, so that any scene that tried to be stately, which I would call The Godfather's pace for instance, alternatively deathly. I do understand that Somewhere aimed to be a (deliberately) meditative character piece, some may say it worked just fine, for me I wouldn't have minded if I was moved by the story or cared for the characters.

Alas, the characters seemed rather shallow and empty, at least to me, as not much happens. Fanning's had some spark, but at the start in particular I found Dorff's very hard to warm to. Also, the dialogue. The dialogue here is sparse, which I imagine was the intention, which actually didn't bother. It's just that when it was used, there was nothing natural about it, it seemed stilted. I think either there should have been more, or there shouldn't have been any. I am not saying that I have a problem with sparse dialogue, Drive worked with this, but to me it just didn't flow as well as it should've done.

Overall, Somewhere isn't a terrible movie but it was a movie that left me cold. Maybe if I give it another chance I may like it more. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Hollywood star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) lives an empty life at the L.A. hotel Château Marmont. He often has blonde twins Bambi and Cindy perform pole-dancing in his room. His daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) joins him for an extended visit. He does publicity with his co-star (Michelle Monaghan) who hates him. He brings Cleo along to continue his publicity tour in Italy.

Sofia Coppola has mastered the sense of boredom. Some may see a connection to 'Lost in Translation'. While it has the same sense of disconnection, this is missing a few important things. It doesn't have the quiet comedic sensibility from Bill Murray. Dorff is doing this very straight and rather boring. It doesn't have the exotic sense despite supposedly being in Italy for a time. The biggest missed opportunity is the father daughter relationship. It should be more emotional and something bigger. Elle Fanning has the skills to pull it off but it's not until the last act when anything actually happens.