Visual Parallels: Somewhere + Earrings

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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