Sofia Coppola by MARBLE BOOKS Love Fashionista

As both a beneficiary of creative privilege and a critic of it, Coppola has become a lightning rod for authenticity questions more broadly haunting American culture since the last boom era. But it also leads her to a site of unusual cultural tension. This indeterminacy gives her work the back-and-forth flicker-and intrigue-of a lure in water. Coppola’s insider criticism of Hollywood, her disdain for the industry that her own career relies on, leads her into a strange territory between hypocrisy and candor, privileged lament and fearless protest.

And although this common thread at first looks incidental to her project, it runs to the heart of her divisive reputation. What drives Coppola’s work, beyond ambition and the vagaries of moody youth? Look closely at her movies and a surprising answer emerges: From The Virgin Suicides to Somewhere, Coppola’s films are striking for their steadfast, targeted attack on the culture of Hollywood. On God, lifestyle, and Coppola, we are a divided nation. Their appeal is a question of taste, but rarely of negotiation. With their dreamy self-absorption, flickers of romantic transcendence, and fabulous indie-rock soundtracks, Coppola’s movies seem to come as missives from some never-ending sophomore fall, a kingdom ruled by moody young folks who have read Rousseau but never seen the inside of a tax return. Last week, the Los Angeles Times described her recent film, Somewhere, as “a kind of road movie of the soul, a delicate, meditative look at a particular state of mind in a particular time and place.” The New York Post, that same day, wrote, “magine a film called ‘Wanna See Me Crack My Knuckles?’ ” Both are typical reactions. But her greatest talent may lie in inciting small-scale culture wars.

In the past two decades, Sofia Coppola has been publicly laughed at, booed, and wept over by Quentin Tarantino -treatments that, in the ledger of Hollywood fame, add up to something slightly short of canonization.

Sofia Coppola by MARBLE BOOKS Love Fashionista