The Bling Ring is a materialistically focused cinematic adaptation of Vanity Fair’s true-story article “The Suspects Wore Louboutins.” It follows LA-based high school friends Marc (Israel Broussard), Rebecca (Katie Chang), Nicki (Emma Watson) and Chloe (Claire Julien) as they rob vacant celebrity homes. While some get involved for the materialistic gains and lifestyle benefits, others do it to simply fit in; after being homeschooled and thus separate from his peers for over a year, Marc felt entirely alone in school until Rebecca came along offering friendship with her reckless home invasion plans. The group must either work cautiously enough to obtain their privileged dreams, or suffer metaphorical crucifixion from some of Hollywood’s powerful players.

Materialism plagues. Across the planet, designer handbags and thousand-dollar accessories of many kinds are sought after for the status and glam they bring. When the world is run by money, the only way to the top is thievery. While director-writer Sofia Coppola struggles expanding on the film’s characters or any larger themes at play, she certainly understands unrestricted consumerism’s poisonous nature. She also understands privilege’s power; the main characters each come from relatively wealthy home lives, rebelling against their parents’ sometimes delusional living standards to become rich and glamorous themselves. They see they’re not quite at the top of the world, so stealing from the top to get there themselves is of course necessary! While basic, The Bling Ring demonstrates unfiltered greed and desire’s consequences on a smaller scale. Though distractingly shot and sometimes dully thin, The Bling Ring implores viewers to see how dangerous predominant money/power oriented global systems are—even hinting at the environmental and communities-wide devastations they harbor.

The Bling Ring
2013
dir. Sofia Coppola
90 min.

Screens on 35mm Wednesday, 8/7, 5:00 & 9:15 @ Brattle Theatre
Double feature w/ Somewhere
Part of the repertory series: Summer of Sofia