Sofia Coppola's Somewhere is a rare jewel in this year's crop ofmovies: a film that actually made me feel and think about thecharacters, a film that mesmerized me with its stillness and itsquietness, a film that I know I will return to, for its haunting mix ofloneliness and the gentle love that family can offer.

A highly personal film rather than simply an autobiographical one(Woody Allen's Manhattan comes to mind as a reference, not in terms offeel but in how that movie reflected both his love of New York andforeshadowed his relationship with a much younger woman), Somewheredraws a deeply shadowed yet highly subtle portrait of acelebrity-scored father- daughter relationship.

The father, superbly played by Stephen Dorff, is a not-quite-A-listmovie star, Johnny Marco, who spends much of the movie holed up in LA'swonderfully atmospheric and unique Château Marmont hotel. There, hemixes empty and quite movingly lonely sexual encounters (including aseries of almost identical pole dances in his room that have apost-post-Fellini bizarreness to them) with time spent with his elevenyear old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning; more about her in a moment) –whose quiet maturity seems totally earned and not in the leastprecocious, and is the glue that holds both Marco's life and the filmtogether.

While there are echoes of Coppola's wonderful Lost In Translation inthis setup –and in the film's isolated environment of hotels and cars(Milan's luxurious Hotel Principe Di Savoia provides a lush interludefrom the Château) – Somewhere is an even braver movie, exchanging thealways engaging yet sardonic Bull Murray for a performance by StephenDorff that brings to mind the alienation of Antonioni and Kubrick.

There are two scenes in particular, both nods to 2001, that strikinglyportray not just Marco's/Dorff's shipwrecked status as a character, buthis intimations of mortality.

One has him sitting motionless while latex (or the like) is appliedover his entire head for a special effects mask that will be used inone of the films he makes that we never even glimpse.

Once the application is complete, he is left alone in silence (save fora distant ringing phone), an amorphous blob of a head distinguishedonly by nose holes, his labored breathing amplified to resemble that ofthe astronauts in 2001 – particularly the sequence where HAL's (theship's computer's) brain is disassembled, just as Marco's life is beingdisassembled here.

The second scene is a simple shot of Johnny Marco eating breakfastalone at the Château Marmont. Its framing, I am certain, is intended toecho the cosmic isolation of the astronaut at the end of 2001, eatingand living out his days in an alien-designed Louis Quinze "hotel suite"in space…doubtless if Sofia Coppola were an alien designing anenvironment for a human, she would pick much the same decor!

If Somewhere sounds bleak, it might have been were it not for its slyhumor (in one scene Marco actually falls asleep during semi-anonymoussex, so routine is it for him) and the extraordinary humanity broughtby Elle Fanning, as Marco's daughter, Cleo.

In a performance as delicately shaded as Dorff's (which says much aboutCoppola's direction of actors), Fanning conjures an eleven year old whoseems both an utterly normal LA pre-teen (I hate the word, "tween"!)and at the same time a girl who is convincingly comfortable around thetrappings of celebrity success – hotel living, slightly flirtatiousadult "friends of your father," limos, press conferences and a somewhatFellini-esquire movie premiere.

Very little is explained – at least in dialogue or exposition – in therelationship between Cleo and her dad, but the unforced warmth andevident strains of their relationship say everything.

In particular, the reproving glance that Cleo gives Marco at the hotelin Milan, after an unwelcome breakfast encounter with one of Marco'sseemingly endless flow of meaningless, glamorous lovers, sayseverything – as does the pained, and perhaps at last conscious lookwith which Marco responds.

It is tempting to see in this father-daughter portrait a personalexpose of Sofia Coppola's relationship with her own celebrity (andcinematic guru) father, Francis Ford Coppola, but I suspect she hasbeen more subtle than that.

While Cleo is dealing with both an absent father and mother (here it isMarco's ex-wife, Layla, played by Lala Sloatman), just as Coppolaherself was forced to do at points in her young life, Somewhere feelstoo authentically a work of art to be straight-up autobiography.

I can imagine her showing it to her parents (Francis Ford Coppola isone of the executive producers, and Sofia's brother Roman is aproducer), and their complex recognition of aspects of themselves – butalso of sufficient distance in the fictionalization of Marco, Cleo andLayla to make it bearable, and to make them proud.

While Somewhere probably won't achieve the commercial heft of Lost InTranslation, it marks a maturing of Sofia Coppola's already uniquetalent. I have long been an admirer and think she is one of the mostgroundbreaking filmmakers of the past decade, with a voice asdistinctive and courageous as Wong Kar-Wai or Paul Thomas Anderson.

Hopefully the film will attract Oscar attention, not least for StephenDorff's and Elle Fanning's greatly underplayed yet endearingperformances and also for Coppola's screenplay and direction.

Its pace and subtlety are far removed from most films of the moment,but like the more reflective films of the 1970s that clearly influencedSofia Coppola, Somewhere is that rare movie that allows you time toform your own thoughts while watching it, rather than being hand-fedfrom one effects-laden "big moment" to the next.

WARNING*****Do not waste your valuable time watching this trash thatnever goes anywhere. However if the sound of a Ferrari engine orwatching someone play a video game is enough to satisfy your sensesthen this is the motion picture for you! Sofia Coppola I hope isashamed to release this insult to movie fans. This is a motion picturethat you continually wait for some event to occur and it never does. Ithas about 5 minutes of content and the rest is useless filler of boringmindless over extended scenes to fill in the remaining 92 minutes. Ishould have stuck to my 5 minute policy: If it seems bad after 5minutes in, it will probably be disappointing. It was totally offensivethat they have the nerve to charge us to view this crap. What hashappened to standards in the industry to allow a motion picture of thislow caliber to be released. I am blown away by the rating attached tothis thing, the director, cast and crew members must have a huge poolof family and friends to pull the rating of this thing above a 2!

"The loneliness of a man entirely surrounded by women and childrensurpasses even the loneliness of a man isolated in the middle of theSahara." Robert Lynd, The Blue Lion

Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is a Hollywood star director SophiaCoppola follows with her up-close-and-personal camera in Somewhere, sowe can feel the loneliness of his life. This state is one Coppolacaptures with more dynamism (that's a relative term for minimalistCoppola) in Lost in Translation, where Bill Murray's depressive Bob ismaking a commercial in Tokyo with a few more people around but the samevacant feeling of life having been lived at the lowest emotional levelwith little promise of deliverance.

As it was with Bob finding Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte to accompanyhis stay, so Johnny has with his 11 year-old daughter Cloe (ElleFanning), an athletic and sensible young girl who loves her dad butfears about an absenting mother and a father who is never around. Theirmost exciting connection is playing Guitar Hero. His vacant response toexplaining a new bed partner to her certifies his detachment fromhonest emotional connection.

Coppola's signature shot inside a car looking at her subject and theterrain is here, effectively showing that nothing in going on inside oroutside, in this case a spiffy black Ferrari. The most action istracking shots of the car as it accelerates to the expressway. YetCoppola's a brilliant observer of the small detail that reveals thelarger sorrows of the lonely life.

Lest we fail to catch the isolation, many young women come on to thestar, but few are chosen. When Johnny does connect, he may fall asleepin the bed right in the middle of the action. Otherwise, he may inviteblonde twins up to do some professional pole dancing, at which time hemay fall asleep again.

Coppola's camera lingers on the arid dancing or the comatose Johnny,and it rarely moves so that the static life is completely translatedthrough the inactivity of its protagonist and the medium. As he tellsus, he is nothing; as we see, he is and with no feelings.

The title is right for the film—Johnny and presumably anyone else avictim of popular culture vacuity may find himself somewhere, but notreally anywhere. He's not even a person as Johnny says about himself toa cell phone contact who won't visit to help him through his anguish.Nothing much happens because, except for a junket to Milan where he canbarely answer questions at a press conference, there is nothinghappening. Even in a party he drinks alone and connects only whenmechanical sex will result.

Coppola is a minimalist conveyor of the downside to celebrity andsuperficiality. Her selection of the Château Marmont for most of thelocation evidences a director who knows where the stars' hideouts andloneliness are (John Belushi died there of an overdose).

As the daughter of a famous director, she knows for a lifetime aboutwhat she's directing.

This is a more intelligent film than you might think.

I nearly didn't go to see Somewhere. People who'd seen it suggested I'dfind its long winded nature, irrelevant. I'm so glad I decided to seeit.

This intelligent film took us on the same ride that our key characterwas embarking on. From the first scene as we stand stationary watchinga car circle a circuit aimlessly we begin to experience the monotony ofJohnny Marco's life.

We sat through whole episodes of amateur pole dancing, done reasonablywell, so that Coppola could drag us through the point she was trying tomake. Hey, you don't recommend a film like this to many people becausemost people like film to entertain, to have a beginning a middle and anend.

Somewhere had a turning point, the arrival of his daughter, and aconclusion, the electronic beep of Johnny's car ignition. That is whenit was headed elsewhere.

And just maybe his life was headed in a more entertaining direction butCoppola would see that as another film; but not necessarily one to bemade by her.