The Bling Ring (2013) - Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring takes the viewer inside the world of the over-privileged teenager whose been completely seduced by the celebrity lifestyle.  Inspired by actual events, a group of teenagers living in Los Angeles use the internet to track down the location of various celebrity homes, where they proceed to ransack of all valuables.   The Bling Ring does a fantastic job at capturing the vapid viewpoint of these young teenagers, giving the viewer a great window into their world and point of view.  The detail that goes into establishing these characters is well thought out, capturing their propensity for social media, fascination with the latest trends in fashion, and obsession with the celebrity lifestyle they wish to emulate.  These teenagers are completely void of all fear when it comes to consequences for their actions, being almost nearly blind to the fact that what they are doing is highly illegal.  I found it interesting that the marketing really makes it look like Emma Watson's character Nicki is the main protagonist, while in all actuality she is more of a supporting character whose main purpose is to capture the extreme vapidness and hilarity of these insanely confused teenagers.  While The Bling Ring is a very entertaining and comical experience, it completely misses the mark when it comes to telling a dramatically resonant story.  The film has flashes of this, touching on how these teenagers; parents are out of touch, being  enables for example, but overall it really lacks any type of theme or message.  From a visual point of view, the film has a few well designed long takes but it really lacks much of an identity.  The aesthetic is very bright and clean but it just didn't feel like Coppola went far enough to tell this story visually.  In the end, what surprises me most about The Bling Ring is that Sophia Coppola could follow up such a rich thematic film like Somewhere with something as thematically uneventful and superficial as The Bling Ring. 
6.25/10

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