The first thing you'll notice about "The Bling Ring" (2013), Sofia Coppola's surprisingly potent discourse on celebrity culture and narcissism, is how fake it looks. Skin, money, guns and jewelry even in the opening credits, each looks like a cheap, plastic imitation of the real thing. When a film so blatantly shows you what it's about, you should sit up and pay attention.
Based on a true story, "The Bling Ring" follows five Los Angeles teenagers who decide to complement their sex- and drug-filled lives with a little excitement by breaking into celebrities' homes. Their voyeurism soon turns into opportunism as the teens begin to steal valuable items to augment their artificially extravagant lives.
At times, "The Bling Ring" feels like a music video. The soundtrack features Sleigh Bells and Azealia Banks. Setting the very, very bad teens' exploits to popular indie artists almost seems like a deliberate move to amplify the pursuit of happiness in the form of fame.
Coppola, the master of melancholy, instills her protagonists with the same listlessness that populated her earlier films, "Lost in Translation" (2003) and "Marie Antoinette" (2006). But here, material goods solve the characters' aimlessness. Money can't buy you happiness? Try telling that to the members of the Bling Ring.
Speaking of the Bling Ring, one must commend Coppola for creating (or rather, bringing to the screen) some of the most detestable teenagers imaginable. They speak in annoying accents, have no redeeming qualities, and their already upper-class backgrounds will make you want to tweet #privilege until the cows come home.
Yet beyond their superficiality, these kids do seem to need something deeper. After all, why worship a dolt (their characterization, not mine) like Paris Hilton? Because she is famous. Take the ringleader of the group, Rebecca (Katie Chung). She comes from a good family but idolizes unstable, infamous celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and dreams of being a fashion designer.
Nicki and Sam (Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga) are two friends even more vapid and shallow than Rebecca. The pair, along with Nicki's punching bag pushover of a mother (Leslie Mann), represents everything absolutely wrong with America. Nicki's speech at the film's beginning, in which she expresses her belief that karma will vindicate her for her crimes, oozes with the fake quality of a porcelain doll, which she also coincidentally looks like.
Speaking of obsession with celebrity, we must give kudos to the marketing team of "The Bling Ring" for focusing its efforts on Watson, arguably the biggest name in the film's cast. But, while Watson is used to sell the film, it turns out that her role is minor, especially when compared to that of Rachel or Marc (Israel Broussard), the group's only boy. When you realize this, it's not hard to smile at the undoubtable bait-and-switch. The fact that it works so well shows that perhaps we have a lot in common with the despicable teenagers in the film.
Of course, no discussion about celebrity would be complete without looking at the beasts that enable such a culture. Throughout the film, there are newscasts, references to TMZ, blogs and shakily-shot red carpet videos. They come and go at random intervals, but what stands out is how vapid they seem. This, of course, does not register with the Bling Ring. These media outlets are priests preaching a false religion to which the group is more than happy to subscribe. In a way, the film is about these sad and pathetic teens looking for nirvana in their own messed up way. Although it is doomed to fail, like most selfish pursuits, one must wonder why the journey needs to be made in the first place. Is notoriety really worth the price? There are some people who would unabashedly say "yes."
Rating: 7.8/10
"The Bling Ring" is currently playing at the Nugget.
