Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven

The Bling Ring

Currently certified "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring is a step into the teen world of obsession with style, celebrities and wealth. A group of friends break into the luxurious houses of celebs such as Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom. The ending is known from the beginning, and even having never seen this movie one knows how it ends: badly. As Emma Watson's vapid character Nicki states, it's karma.

Coppola doesn't take us to a magical world of fantasy; the comment she is making is that as a society we are obsessed with fame, and these kids went to shocking (and yet not so shocking) lengths to obtain a glamorous lifestyle. So why did they steal up to $3 million worth of stuff? Because they could. The desire to be part of the celebrity lifestyle was greater than common sense -- "Is this wrong in anyway? Could this somehow backfire horribly and mean serving jail time?" -- but it's so obviously going to go wrong that I just couldn't look away. So why should we care about the story of The Bling Ring? Personally I wanted to see this because I totally fell for their marketing ("omg lol Hermione Granger doing drugs and pole dancing!") and I've always been a fan of Sofia Coppola. However, The Bling Ring differs from Coppola's earlier films since it's less about the individual and finding yourself in this crazy world. The Bling Ring is a black comedy telling you something we all already know - as a society, we're obsessed with extravagance and the pursuit of wealth, which is why we place celebrities on ridiculously high pedestals.

Inspiration No. 10 (Disney)

Obviously not every Disney film is here, but here are just some of the screencaps I adore. 

Inspiration No. 9 (Spring Breakers)

Spring Break forever, bitches!!!

Inspiration No. 8 (Sofia Coppola Edition)

Continuing on yesterday's theme.

How Sofia Coppola works

The Bling Ring was (finally) released today in Australia. I'm planning to see it on Monday. Like a lot of girls my age, I love Sofia Coppola's movies. But I know a lot of people who also turn their noses up at them, too. They're "pretentious". Or Sofia Coppola only got where she is now because of her father. Or the movies lack substance. 

Whatever, I'm telling you about how a Sofia Coppola movie typically works.

1) The soundtrack is always great. (When someone bitched to me in the past about how Marie Antoinette's modern soundtrack really got up her nose, I just shrugged. Do you not LIKE Adam Ant?!)

2) The protagonist at some point has a major sense of isolation. Somewhere most emphasised this out of all of Sofia Coppola's movies. 

3) People look out of a car (or carriage) window at some point.

4) Blonde women. The female protagonist is always blonde. 

5) At some point there's a scene with pretty sunlight, or sunlight coming through leaves in trees or something.

I don't know how many Sophia Coppola conventions are in The Bling Ring but I know I'm going to enjoy it either way.

Volver

For the past two weeks or so I've been watching the DVD of Volver which I borrowed from the library at least ten times. The only explanation I can give is that it's AMAZING and I'm obsessed with it.

Also it has a lot to do with Penelope Cruz's character Raimunda who is sexy and feisty and extremely resourceful. I love how Raimunda thinks on her feet. I'm not going to give much of the plot of Volver away but Raimunda basically manages to get away with running a restaurant without even owning the place. I love the emphasis of the working class and family bonds in this film. 

I need not mention the perfect portrayal of women in this movie, but I am now just in case a lady out there hasn't seen this movie. See it if you're a girl.

Look at the colours, too.