Sofia Coppola is the next GFT CineMaster
The American director gets the GFT CineMasters treatment in July, with a season of her best films screening at the Glasgow cinema
Sofia Coppola’s sixth feature film, The Beguiled, comes to UK cinemas 14 July, and Glasgow Film is marking the release by celebrating Coppola as part of the theatre’s CineMasters series. As well as The Beguiled, four of Coppola’s earlier films are included in the season – tantalisingly, many of the films are screening on 35mm.
First up is Coppola’s striking debut, The Virgin Suicides (8 & 11 Jul). Adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides' debut novel, it tells the story of five teenage sisters from the point of view of the teen boys in their neighbourhood who look on these mysterious young woman with strange fascination. Some filmmakers take a while to find their stride, but Coppola came right out the gate with a confident style characterised by dreamy atmosphere, expressionist visuals and a lively soundtrack.
Next comes her most-loved feature, Lost in Translation (15 & 18 Jul), and the first of her studies in celebrity ennui. Bill Murray stars as a sad-sack movie star in Tokyo shooting a whisky commercial when he befriends a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who’s similarly at a loose end in the city. Many a late night discussion has been had over the film’s enigmatic ending, in which the parting words between the couple are tantalisingly withheld from us.
We all know how Marie Antoinette (22 & 25 Jul) ends, but that doesn’t stop Coppola’s idiosyncratic take on the life of the last Queen of France being any less beguiling. This ironic take on the period drama, which imagines life in 18th century Versaille as a candy-coloured riot of parties, pastries and fashion parades, all set to an anachronistic soundtrack (The Strokes, Adam and the Ants, Air), didn’t go down well with the French on its initial release; it was booed out of Cannes at its premiere. In retrospect, it now looks like an 00s classic.
The final film in the Coppola CineMasters season is The Bling Ring (29 Jul & 1 Aug), the true-life tale about a group of L.A. teens who would break into the Hollywood Hills mansions of the rich and famous (Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox were among their victims) and treat them like shopping malls, pilfering millions-worth of designer swag and making off into the night like pixies. Like all Coppola films, it’s swimming in atmosphere and set to an immaculately-curated soundtrack.
In addition, there’s also a one-off screening of Coppola’s opera La Traviata. The full Sofia Coppola: CineMaster lineup, along with screening dates, can be found below.
Sofia Coppola: CineMaster
The Virgin Suicides (35mm) – Sat 8 Jul (5.50pm) & Tue 11 Jul (8.45pm)
Lost in Translation (35mm) – Sat 15 Jul (6.30pm) & Tue 18 Jul (6.30pm)
Marie Antoinette (35mm) – Sat 22 Jul (6.05pm) & Tue 25 Jul (6.05pm)
The Bling Ring – Sat 29 Jul (3.00pm) & Tue 1 Aug (8.40pm)
La Traviata – Fri 14 Jul (5pm)
Tickets for Sofia Coppola: CineMaster go on sale tomorrow (Thu 22 Jun) at 12pm. For tickets and more details, head to glasgowfilm.org
GFT's Aki Kaurismäki CineMaster season continues until 12 Jul; details here