Ever since releasing her 2003 film “Lost in Translation,” Sofia Coppola has been, suffice to say, lost in her ability to follow-up on the promise of that movie, still, to this day, her biggest critical and commercial success.
The following decade or so, in between helming Dior commercials, Coppola would go on to release “Marie Antoinette,” “Somewhere,” “The Bling Ring,” and “The Beguiled” —watchable, but confusing efforts on her part. These films most definitely had a singular voice to them, but there was something distant and unfulfilling about them. After all, “Lost in Translation” was a personal film, Coppola went through a similar experience in Tokyo, but her ensuing films lacked that kind of intimacy and immediate touch.
Coppola’s latest is the A24/Apple TV+ jaunt “On the Rocks,” it re-teams the 49-year-old writer-director with her ‘Lost’ star Bill Murray — that, primarily, is what’s creating the word-of-mouth, and there is plenty of it, for this, her seventh film.
“On the Rocks” is sold as a dramedy starring Murray and Rashida Jones as a father/daughter team who, after Jones learns her husband might be cheating on her, reconnect on a spying adventure through New York. The newly released trailer is a great example of a sly editing job trying to sell a film as a mainstream“laugh-a-minute” comedy-drama, but more likely than not, the final result will be much more subtle and contemplative, much like Coppola's other films. Even the film’s poster makes it look like a typical rom-com.
“On The Rocks” has no specific release date as of now, but Apple TV+ has hinted at a possible October release. Watch the new trailer below.
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.