It really, truly, absolutely rocks!!

24th October 2020

17 years ago, Sofia Coppola teamed up with Bill Murray on one of the modern-day classics titled ‘Lost in Translation’, which won her accolades at the Academy Awards and cemented her place as an up-and-coming female force in the movie industry.

Today, the two of them –  along with Rashida Jones (Parks and Rec, My Idiot Brother – join forces yet again and try to recreate the magic of Tokyo in New York City with ‘On the Rocks’.

The Plot

Laura (Jones) is a busy, work-from-home kind of mom who has to combine her writing career with looking after the two of her kids. With her seemingly workaholic husband, Dean’s (Marlon Wayans) constant business trip on the schedule, Laura is left alone to look after the household, which only adds to the writer’s block she currently suffers from. When she starts suspecting Dean
of having an affair with his assistant – a young, outspoken and attractive Fiona (Jessica Henwick) – Laura reaches out for advice to her larger-than-life, playboy father, Felix (Murray), who – in a heartbeat! – arrives in New York to help her solve the mystery with a crazy adventure the two embark on.

Coppola understands the intricacies of human relations. Unlike numerous other directors, her projects dealing with exciting elaborate adventures or rich people problems are actually really down-to-the-ground. She is perhaps the only person in the world who can make movies about has-been-actors (‘Lost in Translation’, ‘Somewhere’) or thieves of Hollywood fame (‘The Bling Ring’) and make them relatable to us regular folk. It stems from her insightfulness and ability to turn mundane, everyday activities like breakfast or picking up your kids from school into a life sketch made with a tracing paper and retaining all its grey reality with a touch of satirical humor ever-present in our day-to-day lives.

This is exactly what makes ‘On the Rocks’ work – with the script at the heart of this movie. It is clever, spot-on and driven by a dialogue taken out of the pages of life, so authentic that it hurts and amuses exactly where it should, as we are thorn between finding it relatable, painful and yet damn funny. For the kind of sharp dialogue that delivers between the lines, you need acting talent that can bring their own personality into it and the director finds it in the charismatic, charming Bill Murray as well as his calmer, levelled, snappy counterpart, Rashida Jones. The two feed off each other and that relationship between a father and a daughter is the soul of this film. There does not seem to be a lot of time for improv nor place for any method acting – it has to come from within and the two ride this wave on their own back-and-forth, which is simply enchanting.

The entire plot of the film – and that’s kind of a big clue into what the hell is going on – is essentially one big red herring and although it is about family, infidelity, workaholism, mystery, in reality the most important part of, the foundation of its success, is the heartwarming tale of a parent reconnecting with his grown-up child that relies on her dad for one last time to find out if her own marriage is on the rocks or if it’s all in her head. And almost like the devil in her ear, the eccentric parents whispers into her ear and plies her with more insecurities just to keep her close and make this adventure last forever. It is a sweet story of how sometimes, our suspicions are just that and how sometimes, work really does get in the way of things. It is a hopeful picture, with a stunning cinematography of the city that never sleeps, filmed like an indie flick that rarely sports such an impressive, A-list cast. This here is an experience we can all imagine taking place somewhere out there in the world and teaching us that things will be okay and in the age of broken marriages, rocky relationships and social media, there are still things worth holding onto and of real value. It tells us that, despite the depressing statistics, not all relationships are doomed.

So now, that you guys know how great this film is – and it really, truly, absolutely is this good! – then you are probably wondering, where do I catch it? Well, jump on the Apple TV+, because Copolla’s return to her finest form yet since the release of ‘Lost in Translation’ is a huge win for the tech-turned-streaming giant. ‘On the Rocks’ is live now!

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