I have watched this film in a cinema with a bar inside the screening room where you could order hummus and wine and have it delivered to your seat. If you think this sounds like a delightful idea, than you'll probably find this movie very mature and enjoyable. If you prefer pop-corn and cola instead; this film is not for you — the caffeine in your cola makes you inpatient.
Spoilers start here, I will even spoil the end. This review is not really intended for prospective viewers, I am just joining in the support-group of people who have already watched this film.
The film opens with a scene of the hero endlessly driving around in circles in his Ferrari, than eventually he finally stops to step out of it so we can have a look at him and think that the film is about him and not the car. According to the brochure that came with the movie ticket this is a metaphor of him going around in circles (how subtle and mature!), and of how meaningless his life is. Now lay back: this is further illustrated with many examples: we see him acting superficial toward other people, we see other people acting superficial towards him, we see him being bored by his daily routine (we have to see that repeatedly so we can understand that it's daily routine), and we see him being bored by luxury and women throwing themselves at him. Basically we take forever to find out that he's a bum, a celebrity, and his life is very boring.
We get a bit of relief when he has to stay with his daughter for some time, finally starting to form what seems like a real relationship. Yes, this is one of those movies where a divorced father who is a bum gets a grip through his new formed relationship with his child. Except that in other movies a crisis forces the father to develop his character dramatically, but unfortunately this film is too understated/boring for a crisis but not quite good enough for character development to happen anyway.
Instead what we see is the hero going back to his regular life after parting with his daughter. Now comes again the same boring scenes that took up the first long part of the film, except that this time our hero seems to feel our pain and realises how boring and pointless it is. And here comes the catharsis: he drives off to the distance until he runs out of petrol and leaves his Ferrari behind to walk further off to the distance. Judging by the brochures explanation this must be the pair of the first metaphor thus framing the movie, and it probably means that he's leaving his meaningless life-style behind. This cries for elaboration as we all would like to know how exactly he carries that out. Or do we? Well after how long and boring the explanation of the first metaphor was, I was happy to see the credits starting to roll instead.
This film was just a never ending set of scenes that were obviously intended to be very meaningful, but I didn't ever really feel it develop into a story, nor has it given enough depth to the characters. Perhaps it would have been better to show the characters from at least half as many angles as the Ferrari was shown.
In my opinion character of the alienated father would have worked just as well if he were a sales assistant living in a studio apartment. The "meaningful" world of hotel rooms and celebrities added little to the plot, anyone can be a disengaged bum in any life circumstance and the story would probably speak to more people. I find Coppola's insistence of portraying the world she's grown up in arbitrary if not boastful.
And am I the only one that thinks it's not so good that it has SO MUCH in common with Lost in Translation?
By now you probably guessed that I wanted cola and pop-corn. But I'm giving it a five because I kind of enjoyed it anyway, mostly due to Fleming's acting.
Spoilers start here, I will even spoil the end. This review is not really intended for prospective viewers, I am just joining in the support-group of people who have already watched this film.
The film opens with a scene of the hero endlessly driving around in circles in his Ferrari, than eventually he finally stops to step out of it so we can have a look at him and think that the film is about him and not the car. According to the brochure that came with the movie ticket this is a metaphor of him going around in circles (how subtle and mature!), and of how meaningless his life is. Now lay back: this is further illustrated with many examples: we see him acting superficial toward other people, we see other people acting superficial towards him, we see him being bored by his daily routine (we have to see that repeatedly so we can understand that it's daily routine), and we see him being bored by luxury and women throwing themselves at him. Basically we take forever to find out that he's a bum, a celebrity, and his life is very boring.
We get a bit of relief when he has to stay with his daughter for some time, finally starting to form what seems like a real relationship. Yes, this is one of those movies where a divorced father who is a bum gets a grip through his new formed relationship with his child. Except that in other movies a crisis forces the father to develop his character dramatically, but unfortunately this film is too understated/boring for a crisis but not quite good enough for character development to happen anyway.
Instead what we see is the hero going back to his regular life after parting with his daughter. Now comes again the same boring scenes that took up the first long part of the film, except that this time our hero seems to feel our pain and realises how boring and pointless it is. And here comes the catharsis: he drives off to the distance until he runs out of petrol and leaves his Ferrari behind to walk further off to the distance. Judging by the brochures explanation this must be the pair of the first metaphor thus framing the movie, and it probably means that he's leaving his meaningless life-style behind. This cries for elaboration as we all would like to know how exactly he carries that out. Or do we? Well after how long and boring the explanation of the first metaphor was, I was happy to see the credits starting to roll instead.
This film was just a never ending set of scenes that were obviously intended to be very meaningful, but I didn't ever really feel it develop into a story, nor has it given enough depth to the characters. Perhaps it would have been better to show the characters from at least half as many angles as the Ferrari was shown.
In my opinion character of the alienated father would have worked just as well if he were a sales assistant living in a studio apartment. The "meaningful" world of hotel rooms and celebrities added little to the plot, anyone can be a disengaged bum in any life circumstance and the story would probably speak to more people. I find Coppola's insistence of portraying the world she's grown up in arbitrary if not boastful.
And am I the only one that thinks it's not so good that it has SO MUCH in common with Lost in Translation?
By now you probably guessed that I wanted cola and pop-corn. But I'm giving it a five because I kind of enjoyed it anyway, mostly due to Fleming's acting.