Tetro

Francis Ford Coppola is one of those people who I both look forward to their new film, and dread their new film... It had been a long time since Coppola's last film, until Youth Without Youth, which came out two years ago. Youth Without Youth was interesting, but... It was the kind of movie that I've seen, and I don't think I'd ever watch it again. His newest, Tetro, is similiar, in that its interesting, but its one of those movies that you almost crave to see it again.

The film centers around newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, who plays Bennie. Bennie shows up on leave in Buenos Aries, searching for his brother Tetro, played by Vincent Gallo. Tetro disappeared some years ago, and promised Bennie that he would be back, but never came. Bennie finds out Tetro has written parts and pieces of a novel, and Bennie decides to steal the pieces and make them into a play, for which he wins top honors. Tetro is hiding a deep, dark secret, though, one which could be a huge threat to Bennie.

Coppola's Tetro is his first original screenplay since The Conversation, and thirty years is a long time. Tetro sometimes feels long winded, and way to thought out, but Coppola manages to always keep the film interesting. Gallo does a great job as the title character, as well as Meribel Verdu, as Tetro's wife, Miranda. Unlike Mann's Public Enemies, Coppola uses HD to a fair amount of success in the film, shooting most of it in black and white, with flashback moments in color. The whole film feels like a (very expensive) experiment in visual style and storytelling, but one that, I can honestly say, I'm glad exists. Tetro is worth a watch, even if its just to say you've seen it.

Recommendation - A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope

The other day I was sick, and bored, and had watched all of my Netflix, so I was looking through my DVD collection for something to watch and came across a documentary that I LOVE and had not seen in a while - A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope. The doc is an hour long piece that includes the story of how a bunch of film school students, who just happened to be Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Walter Murch, John Milius, and others, came together to form the first incarnation of a production house which would go on to produce some of American independent cinema's greatest films (Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti, The Conversation, etc.)

The doc feels short because they skip forward over some of the post THX-1138 debacle period, but maybe that is what makes it so interesting - it's quick, to the point, and includes the best of the best when it comes to info, interviews, etc. With interviews ranging from Coppola and Lucas, to Steven Spielberg, to Warner Brothers exec John Calley, the makers of the doc really pulled together the people that were in the trenches during this amazing time in film history.

This piece is on the DVD for THX-1138, so, you'll either have to buy the special edition dvd, or see if they rent the second disc on Netflix (I've only ever seen the single disc version in Blockbuster). This doc is well worth your time, especially if you are a fan of any of the films or filmmakers listed. Even though they are about the same topic, basically, I enjoyed this doc a lot more than Fog City Mavericks, which is less about Zoetrope, and more about the San Francisco filmmaking scene in general, but which focuses primarily on Zoetrope.

DVD - Youth Without Youth

It's been ten years since Francis Ford Coppola's last, credited, film as a director (he did directorial and editing work on a film called Supernova, when the studio was unhappy with the cut the original director turned in). Youth Without Youth represents Coppola's return both to directing, and, supposedly, to his roots as an independent filmmaker.

Tim Roth plays an elderly professor of linguistics who, on his way to Bucharest to kill himself, is struck by lightning, burning his body badly, but leaving him still alive. He wakes up in a hospital and is presided over by a medical doctor/professor played by Bruno Ganz (who was incredible in Downfall). Roth's Dominic begins to make leaps and bounds in his recovery, and when they remove his bandages, the professor and other doctors find Dominic to be a man in his late thirties/mid forties, as opposed to the seventy + years old he claimed to be when he still had the bandages. Through this accident, Dominic realizes that he has been given, not only a new lease on life, but extraordinary powers. Just as he is beginning to realize this, though, the Nazi's are beginning their attempt at taking control of Europe. They find out about this anomaly of a person, and come after Dominic, who slips out from under them to Switzerland.

After the war ends, Dominic meets up with a woman, Laura (played by Alexandra Maria Lara), who is a spot on re-incarnation of his lost love from decades before, Veronica. He begins a new love affair with Laura, who has some supernatural issues of her own. But will this relationship help them discover the mysteries they seek to solve, or destroy them both?

Youth Without Youth is a good film. It's not great, but it is good. I don't really feel that this represents a TRUE return to the kind of independent filmmaking that Coppola used to do. I mean, c'mon, let's be real, who else out there has the money and studio connections to fund a period piece with the kind of subject matter that Youth tackles? Would this film have been made in the 1960's, before The Godfather, The Conversation, or Apocalypse Now? I doubt it. This isn't The Rain People, or even THX-1138 (which Coppola served as producer for).

The plot was just interesting enough to keep me focused on it, though, if you asked me what the movie was about, I would probably tell you that I have no clue. There are more twists and turns in the meaning of this film than I could count. The acting was well done, and felt very natural, considering the somewhat strange story. But, isn't that what Coppola does best? Deal with actors?

The visual effects that he uses throughout the film, and the general visual style, I thought was interesting, though the cinematography itself was, at times, sorely lacking. Especially in the night scenes, where they pulled the student film trick of just shoving some blue gel on the lights to give it a "cold, night time" look. C'mon Francis, you've been out of film school for, what, forty years now? I know you can light better than that. The HD, also, looked kind of crappy sometimes. I think it would have served him much better, if he was trying to save money, to shoot Super 16. He would have kept all of the detail in the highlights, the night scenes would have looked better, and the over all look would have been much richer and deeper. Oh well, Soderbergh's Bubble suffered from the same problem.

I don't know, I liked Youth Without Youth, but, like I said before, I have no freakin' clue what its about. It's worth a watch, though, even if its just to enjoy an interesting story, and an interesting visual experience.