You either love Sofia Coppola or hate her. Here's why.  Taking
stock of people and ideas in the news. Dec. 28 2010 7:33 PM
Sofia Coppola  You either love her or hate her. Here's why.
Illustration by Charlie Powell. Click image to expand.  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. But her greatest talent may lie in inciting
small-scale culture wars. 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, "[I]magine a film called 'Wanna See Me Crack My
Knuckles?' " Both are typical reactions. 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-end