Usually I come up with ideas for these fine posts myself, but once something is pointed out to me and makes me go "that's right" it would be a shame not to use it. Some time ago, Chris of moviesandsongs asked me if I'm planning to do parallels for Somewhere and Earrings. Having not seen Somewhere in a long time, the comparison between that one and Alex Withrow's debut film did not occur to me. But I've recently rewatched Somewhere and some of the similarities between them are just striking and not just when it comes to visual aspect.Alex himself says that the inspiration from Somewhere is definitely there in his movie, but unlike the influence from for example, Steve McQueen's Shame, it was completely unintentional. It seems to me that both him and Sofia Coppola managed to depict such heartbreaking hopelessness in a quite realistic way - what is more hopeless than being stuck in this limbo of boredom and just going through the motions, day after day, trying to numb the pain?
While Earrings' runtime is only 30 minutes and Somewhere has many long scenes depicting stillness of its main character's existence there are only so many parallels to depict here but the real similarities lie in the main characters and their lifestyle - Somewhere centers around famous actor who despite all the money and all glamorous opportunities leads very sheltered life filled with one night stands, booze, sleeping and in general emptiness and boredom. Young woman who is the main heroine of Earrings shares that kind of lifestyle. They both harbour pain - whether it's something hard to specify and just the feeling of hopelessness in general, as depicted in Somewhere or a personal tragedy, a case shown in Earrings.
There is also a striking similarity in the endings of these movies - the characters end on a hopeful path, walking (or running towards) better life.
You can watch Earrings - HERE
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Okay, so... wow. I'm speechless.
ReplyDeleteVisual Parallels is one of my absolute favorite running features in the entirety of the film blogging world, so to see my film featured here is just amazing. Thank you for that.
And to be compared to Somewhere, well that’s just a dream. As you mentioned, I honestly did not use Somewhere as a visual reference while filming Earrings. That was my subconscious working as best it could.
As always, the stills you chose are spot on. The last time I watched Somewhere, I kept going, “Wait… look… there…” at all of the moments you highlighted. Great, great work (and I’m not just saying that).
Thank you SO MUCH for doing this post, and for your very kind words about my film. It truly means the world to me.
Thank you so much, I'm glad you like the feature so much! I'm really glad Chris suggested this one because the similarities are right there yet I didn't pick up on them upon the first viewing of Earrings.
DeleteI rewatched both yesterday to capture everything, there were other close ones but I figured those 12 are the best representation of similarities.
My pleasure, so glad you liked the post!
Wow... I'm totally getting a visual boner for this. One of my favorite shorts paired with one of my all-time favorite films. I know Alex is a big Sofia Coppola fan like I am and wow... I can see how influential Sofia is as a filmmaker. She also inspires me as a storyteller as I hope to break out into the world of films.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there are so many Somewhere fans out there! :) She is such a good writer and director, definitely very unique and perceptive.
DeleteAwesome as always :D
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteReally interesting how the influence of Somwhere was subconscious for Alex, thanks for the visual comparison Sati!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the idea! :)
DeleteLove, love, love these and I love that you've used Alex's movie. Hell, I didn't even know Alex had made a movie - probably my own fault for not frequenting his blog enough!
ReplyDeleteSuperb work here as always and I shall be checking out Earrings very soon!
Thank you! You should definitely see his film - it's fantastic!
DeleteThank you so much for this awesome post comparing Alex's Earrings with Somewhere. I love both films and the visual parallels you came up with are SO cool and striking.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad you liked it!
DeleteGreat job! I love both of these films. Now I need to rewatch them!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteTwo of my favourite films, and what beautiful comparisons. Wow, some of the similarities between these images - and indeed the deeper themes behind the films, the more I think about them - really is striking. Wow. Fantastic work Sati!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteWow, this is so cool! Awesome work here, Sati -- the parallels are uncanny.
ReplyDeleteThanks, glad you like it! :)
DeleteWow, nice work Sati! I honestly never thought the two would be featured together (in a good way), but it works! Nice job too for Alex
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
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