Appreciation of Somewhere will be greatly enhanced if you share writer-director Sofia Coppola’s fascination with Stephen Dorff. Dorff anchors her father-daughter mood piece about an exhausted, party-proven movie star who is unexpectedly left in charge of his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) for a few days. Dorff doesn’t have the presence to sustain the languorous gaze Coppola casts upon him, but the movie offers other minor pleasures. As always, Coppola demonstrates an eye for placid beauty. Dorff’s actor lives in West Hollywood’s famed Chateau Marmont, a place she depicts as a luxuriously retro wonderland. And without giving in to sentimentality, Coppola manages to capture the unique bond – the precious, platonic romance – that can exist between girls and their dads. Never mind Dorff fans, perhaps Francis Ford Coppola appreciates Somewhere more than anyone else.
