When his head is covered in clay - Somewhere (2011) Discussion

[–] BennyM 12 years ago

Yes, with boredom. Like pretty much every other scene in this turkey, which made it abundantly clear that Sofia Coppola has nothing to offer unless you're willing to read deep existential meaning into meaningless and seemingly neverending clips of absolutely no significance whatsoever.

reply

[–] PJSparkle 12 years ago

Yeah. I saw that coming from a mile way.

Ahem...

reply

[–] BennyM 12 years ago

I didn't. I actually liked Sofia Coppola before watching this. The Virgin Suicides was a bit meandering, as was Lost in Translation (I haven't seen Marie Antoinette yet), but I remember them as works made by a professional filmmaker. I borrowed Somewhere from my local library merely for Dorff, who I like, without ever seeing the director's name until the end credits. So after sitting though this long line of excruciatingly amateurish scenes, which I assumed was made by a couple of highschoolers who had had the luck to secure an actor of a certain fame, I'm now asking myself if in reality I wasn't (when seeing the two earlier mentioned films, that is) blinded by the last name into supposing there were deeper layers and thus unconsciously adjusting my esteem to levels they didn't deserve.

I suppose I'll have to watch them again sometime.

reply

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 12 years ago

+1 Now that's some funny sh*t!

reply

[–] kassandra227 11 years ago

roflmao! i think anyone who watched that scene aged just as many years!

"we'll make our own tripods ... ours will have four legs" - Oliver, Scary Movie 4

reply

[–] missbittens 12 years ago

It didn't make me want to cry, but I did find it strangely disturbing. It was a combination of the Uncanny Valley Effect and the thought of what that would be like, to have to sit there on your own with this stuff all over your head, unable to see or speak and having to resist the urge to open your eyes or breath through your mouth.

reply

[–] Bree_33 12 years ago

Stephen Dorff said that the whole audience starts breathing with him, that’s what happened in Venice too, 700 Italians were breathing with him after that shot is going as long as it does.

------- __@
----- _`\<,_
---- (*)/ (*)------- ----__@
----------------------- _`\<,_
---- -----------------(*)/ (*)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~nec spe,nec metu

reply

[–] pimp4u 12 years ago

When they said the mask would take 40 minutes, I thought we'd have to sit through 40 minutes of hearing him breathe. It sure felt like it. What a boring movie!

reply

[–] Cryogenic 12 years ago

I dunno about "cry", but it's one of several keen moments in the film when your mind is raised -- or is it lowered and calmed? -- to realize that the camera itself (the slow zoom) is essentially stalking Johnny Marco: preying on him in some slow, sly, persistent fashion. In many ways, it is his own ego, abstracted as cinematic intelligence, calmly and mercilessly following him wherever he goes, with only his daughter occasionally distracting its gaze enough that he may free himself. In style and tone, this comes closer to a "horror" movie than any of Sofia's previous movies, I think, but without compromising her more hopeful, wistful sensibility, and it's all the richer and intriguing in her canon for it.

reply

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nunoanjos1 10 years ago

Lol how dumb are you? All that nonsense you said and tried to read deep meanings where there is nothing is just as valid as if I made you look at a rock for 30 minutes and then you said all that too, came up with wild explanations.

reply

[–] witteeeeeee 12 years ago

I haven't seen the film in the entirety, but I had to find out what other people were thinking when they saw this scene. I came into the movie midway through, and didn't have any expectations, which is why I was surprised at how tense it was at the VFX studio. I found it pretty awesome, because although the scene was monotonous (just him breathing), it seemed like the situation was escalating the entire time. First I thought how uncomfortable he might be sitting up straight, then when the VFX guys were frantically getting it onto his head before the medium started to set, to how heavy and thick that stuff must be to make the mold for his mask, which then left off with just him breathing and two nostril holes for 40 minutes.

I'm not claustrophobic, but I can imagine that being a terrifying ordeal. You're in a monster lab where the artists have on display their most gruesome work, and thats the last thing you see before you have to shut all your senses off for 40 minutes. Granted he could pull it off, but then he would have wasted the time of all the people involved just to have to do it again. He couldn't see, I would imagine he couldn't hear anything because of how thick the modeling medium was over his ears, he couldn't speak. I kept waiting for him to freak out and rip it all off, because that was all I would want to do if I were in his situation.

It got me anxious.

reply

[–] Brian_McInnis 12 years ago

He'd have been in pretty big trouble if that was clay he was covered with.

reply