By Anju
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Rashida Jones, Bill Murray, Marlon Wayans, Jenny Slate, Jessica Henwick
Language: English
Platform: Apple TV+
On The Rocks can mean a term for having drinks undiluted or a relationship gone kaput. We see the latter happening with the former thrown in between in acclaimed director Sofia Coppola’s latest film by the same name. On The Rocks is a slice of life film of a daughter trying to find the reason for cracks in her marriage with the unsolicited, all-out help of her flirtatious father.
Laura( Rashida Jones) gets married to Dean (Marlon Wayons) in a ceremony. The scene where the camera pans pieces of their clothes leading upto the bed takes us to the scene where she picks up her kids’ objects in a New York apartment. She has two kids by now and her husband, Dean is a workaholic businessman. She has taken a break from being a writer due to the engagements of the household.
Just then she receives a phone call from her dad Felix (Bill Murray) who’s back from Paris, to meet up. He’s a playboy dad who had divorced his wife (Laura’s mom) and left his family a long time ago. In their meeting, he suspects about her husband being so busy, not finding time for her, to be something else. Laura brushes aside saying it isn’t like that and Dean is just a hardworking guy. One night when they are about to get intimate, Laura feels Dean didn’t reciprocate as he usually does. This gives her a sign to see a point in what her dad says. To add fuel to the fire, at Dean’s office party, she sees his colleague Fiona (Jessica Henwick) being friendly with him. She’s sulking in the inside so much so that she doesn’t find time to listen to her kid’s friend’s mom Vanessa (Jenny Slate). She gets worried and makes it a mission to find out the truth. Reluctant at first, she teams up with her dad in finding out if Dean has been cheating on her.
When a film comes out of the stable of Sofia Coppola or Woody Allen we can be sure of two most prominent characters written for them – New York City and jazz music. Yes, it’s fascinating to see Philippe Le Sourd capture the various alleys, pubs, restaurants and cobblestone streets of the ever great city, when both dad and daughter spy duo – Felix and Laura whisk past in their detective adventures. Classic landscape of the city gets intermingled with the modern appeal both at night and in the morning. The city can be inviting and leave you completely lonely at the same time. Even in the scene showing the writer’s office of Laura, there are wall-to-wall glass windows surrounded by a minimalistic white architecture. Coming to the jazz music part of it, Phoenix’s score intersperses with the NYC premise in the scenes where – Laura and Dean near the spiral staircase after their wedding, Laura and Felix are having caviar and blending with the NYC skyline.
Unwantingly, Laura gets swayed by the make believe stories of her dominating dad. It’s as though she doesn’t have control of herself when he’s in company. That’s when in their first meeting at a restaurant he orders “On The Rocks for me and Bombay Martini for her”. He even tells her to “start thinking like a man”. He treats her with gift and dinner on her birthday. He wants to make his presence felt in whatever room he is in. Even when they follow Dean in Mexico he charms everyone with his trademark style. In a sweet gesture by Dean, he comes back from a business trip, he treats her with gifts, takes Laura out for dinner to make up for not being there for her birthday. Not much of Dean is seen only that he’s on constant business trips and office get-togethers, though he’s sweet to Laura, but she thinks of him in the contrary. It all culminates in Laura coming into her own, makes the right decision, just in time.
Although the movie is about Laura, it is Felix who’s the centre of attraction, charmer. Rashida shows maturity, grace and level headedness in her character beautifully. Bill Murray displays the deadpanness evoking humor in his unimitating style. The dynamics of father-daughter relationship is etched in a forthcoming manner. Their whistling sessions are quite heartwarming and interesting. On The Rocks had world premiere at the recently concluded 58th New York Film Festival.
Stars: ***.5
My thoughts 