Gucci purses, teenage drug abuse, and the consequences of stealing are all major themes in Sofia Coppola’s most recent picture, The Bling Ring. But this story isn’t about the lifestyles of the rich and the famous, but a group of misguided teenagers who want to be like them. The Bling Ring is highly based on Nancy Jo Sales’ article ‘The Suspects Wore Louboutins‘ and the subsequent news story, and is loosely based on real events.
Marc Hall (Israel Broussard) was somewhat of an outcast when he started studying at Indian Hills High. He felt he didn’t fit in, until he met Rebecca Ahn (Katie Chang). Marc and Rebecca quickly became the best of friends, as Rebecca revealed a very deep-running curiosity about the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. Starting with Paris Hilton, the two begin to rob the homes of stars, before expanding the entourage to become a group known as ‘The Bling Ring’. The Bling Ring steal from numerous celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge, and Rachel Bilson. The gangs exploits begin to be noticed, but the consequences aren’t as clear as you’d might think.
As you might expect, as a 20-year straight male I didn’t find the source material riveting. Not to say it’s bad, but I don’t think most males will get a thrill from seeing Paris Hilton’s shoe collection. That being said, that’s not the driving force of the film. It’s driven by a desire to see the story through, and how it’ll resolve. It seems obvious that the kids’ll get caught and that’ll be the end of their fun, but that’s definitely not the be all and end all. What’s impressive is how Coppola can reel audiences in. Spliced throughout the film are one-to-one interviews that we can only assume are after the heists, which tease and hook your sense of catharsis to really see the film out.
In terms of the film’s style it’s needless to say it’s incredibly glossy, and opulent in a Hilton/Lohan-esque way. Brand names are thrown around to authenticate the mood, the soundtrack is certainly suiting with it’s contemporary whipper-snapper tunes, and indulgent selfies being taken all over the place. Emma Watson’s performance particularly impressed me as Nicki Moore, a spoiled little girl who was always fed from the silver spoon. It was a delight to see such an acting range from her. All of the cast was good actually, it felt incredibly real.
Coppola’s very delicate directorial touches were what made the film mesh. Certain shots showed the characters uploading pictures of themselves to facebook, and that for me captured this entirely ridiculous world of supposed ‘glamour’ perfectly. Also keep a lookout for very slow shots of clarity, with a rather eerie tone set by the music. Coppola definitely leaves a lot of room for interpretation, which is fantastic for a fairly straightforward film like this. After all it’s quite hard to feel appalled at a crime, when the victim is Lindsay Lohan of all people.
So why this film? Why did Coppola make this? I think one of Marc’s lines from the film answers that question nicely. “This kinda thing shows, that America just has this sick fascination with a Bonnie ‘n’ Clyde kinda thing.” Crudely put, but that thought’s rather true. Society does thrive on looking into the lives of the rich and famous, and to a wider extent anyone who has a touch of fame. The Bling Ring wanted to pretend to be A-listers, and wear their skin. The odd truth is in ways the Bling Ring became like the people they stole from through what Marc said. What a scary idea.
The base topic matter isn’t for everyone, but the film is rather potent food for thought. The characterization, how Coppola toys with us as an audience, the film was just so textured and had it’s own glitzy personality. The Bling Ring isn’t quite Lost in Translation on the scale, but it’s certainly worth watching. If a director can make something that has little initial appeal interesting, then quite frankly they’ve done a great job. Just don’t go robbing R-Kelly now, okay kids?
