The Bling Ring (2013, Dir. Sofia Coppola, USA/UK/France/Germany/Japan) (Cert: 15/R) **** Starring: Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Emma Watson Tearaway teen Marc (Broussard) is a new student at a school for similarly troubled students where he becomes friends with Rebecca (Chang) who pushes him further into a life of partying and robbery. Sharing an obsession with celebrity, status and possessions, Marc, Katie and few other teens start breaking into the Hollywood homes of celebrities and stealing valuable property. Acts of criminality that soon give them the fame that they crave. The Bling Ring is a product of a modern culture that it both feeds on and satirises mercilessly. The film makes use of trendy celeb cameos, gossip news groups such as TMZ get referenced and even director Sofia Coppola whilst also claiming serious cinematic and artistic credibility such as being daughter of the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, one of the film’s producers, she is also the partial inheritor of her father’s experimental independent film company American Zoetrope (a company which also kick-started the careers of the likes of John Milius and George Lucas) whilst also having a foot in the world of fashion and a distinctly ‘trendy’ and punkish approach to directing, for example Marie Antoinette (2006). In amongst this indulgence of the modern celeb culture is a razor sharp sense of satire. Our main characters aren’t presented as being the sharpest knives in drawer and only succeed by having their victims being even less aware of the world than the thieves. The film is best served as an acerbic comedy than when it tries to go for drama and whilst there’s never anything which breaks the grounds of believability, it’s still remarkable that it’s a true story based on the news article, They Suspect Wore Louboutins (which is a much better title). Snarky and smart, The Bling Ring is, for the most part, a strong insight into modern pop-culture.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 15:29:07 +0000
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