{"id":162419,"date":"2026-05-14T08:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162419"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:13:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:13:44","slug":"sofia-coppola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162419","title":{"rendered":"“That’s the way I work: I try to imagine what I would like to see.” — Sofia Coppola"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nIt’s her birthday today. <\/p>\n

Doing these posts is a way to pull up things from my gigantic archives. I might as well find ways to share them. But it’s also a reminder of how much I haven’t<\/em> written. Topics I should probably explore in print. For example: I haven’t written a word about Somewhere<\/i>, which I think may very well be Coppola’s best film. I think it’s one of the best films of the last 30 years. A throwback to the Golden Age of 1970s American filmmaking. <\/p>\n

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\nI also have never written about Marie Antoinette<\/i>, which got some VERY weird critiques back in the day … all those ANACHRONISMS (there were anachronisms in Shakespeare, you dolts.) Also, the ever-present criticism of nepotism. In fact, those critiques are SO constant that one could make the argument that Coppola has a VERY difficult battle indeed, to get her work taken seriously IN SPITE of her father. Nicolas Cage changed his damn name to try to make it on his own without the Coppola name. I love Marie Antoinette<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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And her wonderful Christmas special – A Very Murray Christmas<\/i> – which made me happy to be alive. (I’m not exaggerating.) The special is structured like one of those old-fashioned television specials and variety shows, where guests show up and do their thing, tell some jokes, sing a song, “banter”. And Coppola does all this – beautifully – but overlays it with this bittersweet feeling of nostalgia and melancholy and loneliness. <\/p>\n

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\nBut I have written a couple of things about Coppola’s films:<\/p>\n

— a piece on Bill Murray in Lost in Translation<\/i><\/a> for my friend Jeremy Richey’s wonderful blog, Moon in the Gutter (RE-POSTED HERE). That one means a lot to me.<\/p>\n

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\n— I reviewed the extremely horny The Beguiled<\/i><\/a> for Ebert. <\/p>\n

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And finally, here are two eloquent shots from Coppola’s first film, a short called Lick the Star<\/i>. To say “I feel seen” by this doesn’t even come close to expressing the situation. Maybe it’s the Gen-X-ness of it all that I really respond to. <\/p>\n

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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n