Gia Coppola gives actors room to work, and we value her patience with Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl. Its thin supporting characters also show how much more she needs from the writing.
Fi1m perspective
In The Last Showgirl (2024), Pamela Anderson's Shelly treats performing as something worth holding on to, even when her pride becomes uncomfortable to watch. Coppola takes that attachment seriously without making Shelly easy company. We were moved by Anderson's insistence on how much the work matters to this woman. Coppola's direction gives her room, but the film's drifting pace and thin supporting characters make this a qualified recommendation.
Her feature debut, Palo Alto (2013), adapted James Franco's stories into a portrait of suburban teenagers. Mainstream (2020), co-written with Tom Stuart, moved to a heightened satire of internet fame. With The Last Showgirl, which she also produced, Coppola turned to an ageing Las Vegas performer facing the end of her show. These are different ages and settings, but her interest in characters trying to work out who they are carries through the changes.
Her preference for small casts and few locations is useful for a film built around one performer's attachment to her work. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw is a close collaborator, bringing a softer, photography-led look to their films. That gentleness suits Coppola's respect for Shelly, and the film is strongest when it lets Anderson hold our attention. We do not need a busier plot here, but we do need more to discover about the people alongside her.
The reservation is not that Coppola admires Shelly too much. She allows the woman's pride to be awkward, which saves The Last Showgirl from becoming a simple tribute to perseverance. Yet Kate Gersten's screenplay gives the supporting characters too little life, and the drifting pace gives us time to notice what is missing. Start with The Last Showgirl for Anderson, provided an affecting central performance is enough to carry an uneven evening.
Biography
Gia Coppola is an American film director and screenwriter. She made her feature directorial debut with Palo Alto (2014), which she also wrote. Her subsequent films include Mainstream (2021) and The Last Showgirl (2024), on which she also served as producer.
Born Gian-Carla Coppola on 1 January 1987 in Los Angeles, she is the granddaughter of director Francis Ford Coppola and the daughter of the late Gian-Carlo Coppola. She is the niece of filmmakers Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola.
