The Big Picture
Sofia Coppola is a filmmaker who has transformed the landscape of American cinema over the past thirty years, constructing visual compositions and isolated characters that movie lovers of many generations have come to revere and idolize. An artist whose sensibilities permeate every facet of her work, the language of Coppola’s filmmaking has become clearly defined in popular culture, whether she is focusing her concentration on an American Civil War-era all-girls school in The Beguiled or following the renewal of a father-daughter relationship in Somewhere. As Coppola’s career moves forward –– now with eight feature flicks under her belt –– her filmography has come to shape and inform the ways with which many audiences experience and relate to cinema in the modern world.
With the upcoming release of Coppola’s book Archive, along with the highly-anticipated theatrical rollout of Priscilla, which has garnered rapturous praise during the fall film festival season, now is the perfect opportunity to look back at Coppola’s prolific career across film, photography, and fashion. Coppola’s early work is best remembered for 1999’s The Virgin Suicides and the Oscar-nominated Lost in Translation from 2003. Overlooked by many of Coppola’s fans is the 1998 black-and-white short film “Lick the Star.” Clocking in under 14 minutes and available across many streaming platforms, “Lick the Star” paves the way for many of the cornerstones of the director’s oeuvre, elements that have come to distinguish her unique voice as an auteur today.
Shot on location in a junior high school and employing non-professional young actors, “Lick the Star” follows a clique of on-the-surface “mean girls” during their first days back at school for the year. Chloe, the cigarette and eyeliner-wielding leader of the posse, has a new inside joke for her friends, “Lick the star,” which is linked to a twisted plan for the girls to gain authority over their male classmates. As the petty dynamics in the school’s social hierarchy constantly evolve, Chloe quickly finds herself on the outs when something she says is misconstrued, leading to her downfall in the highly politicized hallways of junior high. Finding herself an outsider, Chloe reads a poem she has written as the film comes to a close: “Everything changes, nothing changes. The tables turn, and life goes on.”
When teenager Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who’s already a meteoric rock ‘n’ roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, and a gentle best friend.
Release Date November 3, 2023
Director Sofia Coppola
Cast Jacob Elordi, Cailee Spaeny, Jorja Cadence, Ari Cohen
Rating R
“Lick the Star” Has a Lot of the Themes Coppola Is Known For
Despite its brief run time, “Lick the Star” carries many of the thematic elements that Coppola has extensively explored in her better-known movies. “Lick the Star” commences with a car ride, mirroring the subjects in flux found at the start of many of Coppola’s other movies (most of her films begin in vehicles of some sort), initiating these personal portraits of figures going through change or transition.
As with most of Coppola’s filmography, young women find themselves at the epicenter of “Lick the Star,” girls rebelling against the ennui of everyday life, isolated figures trying to find their places in the world. This film finds itself most akin to The Virgin Suicides through its depictions of suburban tedium in middle America, similarly utilizing voiceover narration to keep their feminine protagonists distanced from the audience, adding to their enigmatic auras. In “Lick the Star” and The Virgin Suicides, the use of voiceover also works to capture the objectification of their female characters, in both cases emphasizing the visions of how their peers and neighbors see them instead of giving voices to these girls, which in turn accentuates the lack of individual liberty that these growing women experience in their suburban environments.
Alienation, as experienced through a feminine lens, can draw comparisons between “Lick the Star” and Marie Antoinette as well. An essay prompt in the former film asks a class and its female students, “What is beauty?” Directing the girls to dissect a deeply nuanced question with flimsy, tradition-reinforcing standards. In the latter film, the titular character is likewise stifled by the expectations built into conventional femininity, put under tremendous pressure during Marie Antoinette’s early half to bear an heir to the French throne and accomplish her envisioned duties as a wife and mother.
“Lick the Star” Sets a Precedent for the Iconic Style and Atmosphere of Coppola’s Films
While critics once slammed the atmosphere created in Coppola’s films as being “style over substance,” the colors, textures, and compositions of her movies contribute significantly to the overall lasting impact of her work over the decades. “Lick the Star” serves as the earliest example of the director’s tremendous and unmatched talent for building experiential cinema, full of entrancing sounds and images to be immersed in. Through its 16 mm black-and-white imagery and spirited editing, the short film pays an intriguing homage to the 1960s filmmaking of the French New Wave while also paving the way for Coppola’s iconic stylization. The movie was shot by American cinematographer Lance Acord, who would go on to work on both Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. Walking through the quiet school corridors, the short film’s female characters are often shown in slow motion, moving through the space as lonesome figures, or conversely displayed in group shots beautifully staged to emphasize picturesque compositions, both of which are framing techniques that Coppola would come back to in her future works.
From New Wave ’80s bangers in Marie Antoinette to Azealia Banks’ incredible 212 in The Bling Ring, the soundtracks of Coppola’s films have reflected the in-depth attention she has utilized to create the atmosphere in her work. The music used in “Lick the Star” totally embodies the 1990s spirit of the movie’s setting, with bands from the era like The Go-Go’s and The Amps included on the short’s soundtrack. The contemporary tracks used in “Lick the Star” strongly link to its narrative, grounding the film within a place and time that gives essential context to understanding where the work is coming from, a connection that commonly exists in Coppola’s movies. Sometimes unfairly written off as a materialistic flourish of the director’s sensibilities, styling stands out as a critical method of comprehending the characters of Coppola’s movies. “Lick the Star” and its youthful characters are clearly conscious of how their clothing presents them to the world. Coppola puts a meaningful emphasis on dress as a means of feminine manifestation in the film, a post-feminist concept of self-expression within a capitalist world.
From castigation for her acting skills in The Godfather III to being dubbed a “Nepo Baby” long before the internet trend was born, Sofia Coppola has long faced inequity in the male-dominated world of cinema. Yet, her unmatched aptitudes as a screenwriter and visionary have ultimately built her up as one of the world’s leading female directors to be respected and supported, with an impressive body of work that speaks profoundly to so many movie lovers across the globe. As audiences are introduced to her latest film, Priscilla, they should also look back to her earliest on-screen project, “Lick the Star,” for more insight into the depth of her sensibilities that have now expanded a nearly thirty-year career as a filmmaker.
