Cast
Emma Watson
Nicki
Leslie Mann
Laurie
Taissa Farmiga
Sam
Israel Broussard
Marc
Katie Chang
Rebecca
Claire Pfister
Chloe
Movie Info
In THE
BLING RING, Oscar Winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola takes us inside the world of
these teens, where their youthful naivete and excitement is amplified by
today's culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession. The members of the
Bling Ring introduce us to temptations that any teenager would find hard to
resist. And what starts out as youthful fun spins out of control, revealing a
sobering view of our modern culture. (c) A24
Most of
Sofia Coppola’s films take an ambivalent attitude toward fame, but The Bling Ring tackles the subject from a
slight remove. The movie opens with a nighttime robbery, as teens scale a fence
and slip, ninja-like, onto what at first glance would appear to be a
well-secured property. As the film jumps forward to their capture and then
flashes back to tell their story (mitigated through media interviews), The Bling Ring clarifies that this is
Orlando Bloom’s house. But the prologue—and its security-cam, night-vision
POV—establishes the movie’s unusual dual perspective. This is a tale of
obsessive fans, superficially unfolding from their version of events but
observed by Hollywood royalty, passively watching as onlookers storm the
castle.
Based on
a Vanity Fair article by Nancy
Jo Sales, The Bling Ring is
inspired by an actual 2008–2009 rash of L.A.-area robberies, when a group of
high-schoolers from Calabasas, California, managed to invade the estates of
Bloom, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, and others, helping themselves
to whatever they wanted. As the movie tells it, the spree begins when a smiling
sociopath (Katie Chang) ropes the new kid in “dropout school” (Israel
Broussard) into breaking into a friend’s house. Soon their sights turn to
celebrities. It’s easy to know when “Paris” is out of town because of “news” on
the Internet—and apparently she, too, leaves her keys under the mat. As the
ring expands to include the duo’s friends (notably ones played by Emma Watson,
who steals the movie, and Taissa Farmiga, Vera’s younger sister), The Bling Ring quietly ponders
entitlement culture. In one sense, there’s not much separating these
hard-partying, brand-blinded teens from Lindsay Lohan, nabbed for shoplifting
at around the same time.
Dedicated
to the late cinematographer Harris Savides, who was unable to complete
filming, The Bling Ring shoots
each robbery with a perverse matter-of-factness. It’s easily Coppola’s least
flashy film, but that’s not to say it lacks poetry—the burglarizing of Hills star Audrina Patridge’s home is
shown in a single, gorgeous long shot. If the tone of lyrical crime saga has
critics name-checking Spring Breakers (the
portrait of adolescent ineptitude also recalls Larry Clark’s Bully), The
Bling Ring isn’t so much interested in provocation as sociology.
Manufacturing this sort of fame is an exercise in mutual exploitation. Ostensibly victimized by the thefts, Paris Hilton is apparently healed enough to contribute a cameo—and flattered enough to allow Coppola to film in what’s reportedly her actual home. The movie captures a moment when the lines separating anonymity, fame, and notoriety are finer than ever. And as Watson’s social climber prattles on to reporters about what a great “learning lesson” her criminal experience has been, it’s easy to see another star in the making.
Manufacturing this sort of fame is an exercise in mutual exploitation. Ostensibly victimized by the thefts, Paris Hilton is apparently healed enough to contribute a cameo—and flattered enough to allow Coppola to film in what’s reportedly her actual home. The movie captures a moment when the lines separating anonymity, fame, and notoriety are finer than ever. And as Watson’s social climber prattles on to reporters about what a great “learning lesson” her criminal experience has been, it’s easy to see another star in the making.
Coming soon
