*"The Beguiled" has earned Sofia Coppola the BEST DIRECTING award at the 2017 Cannes Festival* Ever since “Marie Antoinette” filmmaker Sofia Coppola has seemed to suffer from indolence, and that was the case again with “The Beguiled,” her new film debuting today in Cannes. I could not get into this movie in spite of its bravura visual palette, its many funny moments and primo cast composed ... more >
ARCHIVES

CANNES FESTIVAL, “The Beguiled”

CANNES FESTIVAL 2017 : who made the INSTAGRAM LIST?
Is social media a waste of time, as David Remnick said? Maybe so. But Twitter, Instagram and the rest make keeping up with other people's lives easy and free. Where the Cannes festivalgoer is concerned, a spur-of-the-moment video on Instagram by a filmmaker can potentially add insight into what they're experiencing. At the same time, it's important not to lose touch of the fact that social media ... more >

Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola reunite for Christmas musical
It was just announced that Bill Murray will reunite with his "Lost in Translation" director Sofia Coppola for a carol-singing Christmas TV special. Not much is available in the way of details but the actor told Variety, “we’re going to do it like a little movie. It won’t have a format, but it’s going to have music.” Adding that “it’s not going to be live”, Murray suggested, cryptically: “It ... more >

The Bling Ring
Sofia Coppola’s latest is about as interesting as the vapid microcosm in which it takes place: the small world of a bunch of half-wit Louboutin- and Vuitton-obsessed rich kids in L.A. They come up with the brilliant idea of finding out on the internet when this or that celebrity is out of town so they can sneak in the empty house and get their hands on the objects of their dreams. It’s mansion ... more >

SOFIA COPPOLA filming Bling Ring
Los Angeles is to Sofia Coppola what New York is to Woody Allen, a storytelling-worthy place where fictional characters and their idiosyncracies come to life. After Somewhere, which was set in L.A., late last week Coppola began shooting The Bling Ring (the first few sequences will take place in Calabasas, and the set will then move to downtown L.A). This film is based on a true story. The ... more >

PHOTO-OP: Following in daddy’s footsteps
Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sofia at the Cannes Festival in 1979. Then, at the Academy Awards; top-right, Bill Murray as Steve Zissou. ... more >

Somewhere
Diehard Coppola fans will appreciate “Somewhere.” This critic found it frustrating and going nowhere. It’s not so much the glacial pace or the extremely long takes that are at fault. After all, Antonioni and others successfully pulled off the same kind of stunt for almost decades. Nor the simpatico performance by Stephen Dorff playing a famous but washed-out star, Johnny Marco, devoid of any ... more >