Cast: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson
Director: Sofia Coppola
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
Official Trailer: Here
Editor’s Notes: The Bling Ring is out on Blu-ray and DVD today, September 17th. Special features includes ‘Making The Bling Ring: On Set with Sofia, the Cast and Crew’, ‘Behind the Real Bling Ring’, and ‘Scene of the Crime with Paris Hilton’.
Released on DVD barely a month after the word ‘selfie’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, Sofia Coppola’s teenage saga The Bling Ring couldn’t come at a more apposite time. Fuelled by an amazingly observed portrayal of the ‘real’ lives of teenagers The Bling Ring is certainly one of the most enjoyable teen movies out on DVD this week. The outlandish robberies are admittedly fantastical but the characters use of social media, the constant selfies and the glue that seems to attach them to their mobile phones creates a brilliant air of reality.
The outlandish robberies are admittedly fantastical but the characters use of social media, the constant selfies and the glue that seems to attach them to their mobile phones creates a brilliant air of reality.
Based on the real life robberies carried out by a group the media dubbed “The Bling Ring”, Coppola’s movie follows Rebecca (Katie Chang), Marc (Israel Broussard), Nicki (Emma Watson) and a few of their drop-out friends as they start to target celebrity’s houses when their famous occupants are away. Using tabloid websites to track the movements of their targets, “The Bling Ring” break-in and help themselves to a few special keepsakes. This brief synopsis sounds a lot more sinister than it actually is, these teenagers are each troubled in their own way but they are not hardened criminals. Their actions are fuelled by obsession and a belief that they are entitled to a better, more fabulous way of life.
This need for fame is characterised most starkly in Nicki’s need for infamy, Waston’s LA drawl is brilliant and her faux-sincerity creates a brilliantly conniving character. Based on Alexis Neiers, who was filming reality TV show Pretty Wild at the time of the break-ins, the film comes closest to the real personality of the people involved in Nicki/Neiers’ desperation for fame and denial of the events for which she was convicted.
If this film wasn’t based on real events you would call it far fetched or unrealistic – celebrities such as Paris Hilton wouldn’t just leave a key under the mat or a door open . . . but apparently they did. Coppola’s understated cinematography helps to ground the film in reality and controls the bizarre plot. Scenes of everyday life interposed with the crimes, clubs and interviews post-conviction create an intrigue and interest with may not have necessarily been there given that 90% of the audience will already know how the story ends.
The soundtrack is perfect; with tracks from Azealia Banks, M.I.A, Frank Ocean and Phoenix it grounds the plot in the present day and gives it immediacy and drive.
The brilliant opening sequence had me checking my speakers more than once before the silent approach of several of the teens to a dark mansion erupts in to the riotous Crown On The Ground by Sleigh Bells. The soundtrack is perfect; with tracks from Azealia Banks, M.I.A, Frank Ocean and Phoenix it grounds the plot in the present day and gives it immediacy and drive.
The Bling Ring is an interesting film, a real story given the Hollywood makeover with a famous face to draw in the crowds – it could have been a real car crash. But with the steady hand of Sofia Coppola at the wheel, the plot steers away from the brash facts and focuses on the motivation of the characters. What could have been an out and out teenage crime movie become an interesting study of obsession, fame and teenage life.
[notification type=”star”]91/100 ~ AMAZING. With the steady hand of Sofia Coppola at the wheel, the plot steers away from the brash facts and focuses on the motivation of the characters. What could have been an out and out teenage crime movie become an interesting study of obsession, fame and teenage life.[/notification]
