Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth Disappoints
Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in 10-years, Youth Without Youth, premiered on Sunday at RomaCinemaFest to lackluster reviews.
Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter:
“The story is full of arcane references that many will find nonsensical, and the performances are a letdown. Lacking coherence and suspense, the picture is likely to attract a cult following while disappointing Coppola’s fan base.”
Jay Weissberg of Variety:
“Not just fans of Francis Ford Coppola will be disappointed by the mishmash plotting and stilted script of Youth Without Youth.””Attempting to harness multiple genres, pic is brought down by ponderous dialogue (much of it dubbed) and an inability to connect with its characters.””Presumably, Coppola chose to dub most of the film because the non-native English speakers needed help to make their lines clear, but the device, though generally well done, does nothing to help lackluster delivery in the minor roles.”
I think most everyone was expecting a mixed or negative reaction for this film. But all accounts so far seem to sway more negative than my already low expectations.
Guillermo Del Toro Working on Frankenstein
In between threatening to show off his incredible “chocolate bar physique,” Hell Boy 2 director Guillermo del Toro revealed to MTV that he is working on preliminary sketches for an upcoming “definitive take” on the Frankenstein monster. Del Toro says that his vision, which is in the earliest stages of pre-production, will not be a literal adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, rather a permutation on the myth. It’s all very cryptic, isn’t it? Does this mean he’ll be bringing Frankenstein into modern times or creating his own twisted Gothic fairy tale?
“The only way to do the Shelley novel is to actually do a four-hour miniseries,” he said. “But I think there permutations in which you can tell the myth in a different way.”
With Mark Romanek’s Wolf Man starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins due in 2009, it appears these traditional monsters of yore might be in for a more promising, hipper comeback compared to their last mediocre return to theaters in the early ‘90s, when Mike Nichols’ Wolf, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein put audiences to sleep, as well as the horror icons. Indeed, sounds like the perfect old school anecdote for what remains of the torture porn, ‘80s remakes and Japanese remakes still haunting theaters.
Who would you cast as Dr. Frankenstein and his bolt-brained pal?
Movie Trailer: Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth
The movie trailer for Youth Without Youth, Francis Ford Coppola’s first new film in 10-years, is now online. Coppola adapted, produced and directed the movie based on the 1976 novel by Romanian-born religious historian Mircea Eliade.
The short teaser trailer looks interesting, but doesn’t really show much, or at least it doesn’t show much in terms of narrative story. And that worries me quite a bit since I have heard that it is somewhat personal and experimental. It has been widely reported that the film was inspired by his daughter Sofia, and shot with a low $5 million budget film last winter in Romania using a Sony High Definition camera. The movie has been screened in front of friends and fellow directors including: Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, Andy Garcia, Matt Dillon, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Spike Jonze, John Singleton, the Hughes Brothers, Alfonso Cuarón, and Gus Van Sant attended the screening. It has been said that overall the film is “Good, but very difficult.”
The movie stars Tim Roth as a 70-year-old who is struck by lightning and suddenly gets younger and more brilliant. The film co-stars Alexandra Maria Lara and Bruno Ganz, and Matt Damon makes a cameo appearance. Coppola’s last time behind the camera was 1997’s Rainmaker which also starred Damon.
Tribeca Movie Review: Brando
The following movie was screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Brando
Special Event, Documentary
2007, U.S.A.
Dir: Leslie Greif, Mimi Friedman
It’s hard to believe that a man who established such a resonant and respected legacy within the world of film has been gone for three years already. Marlon Brando was the benchmark for acting in his lifetime. There was acting before Brando and there was acting after Brando. His influence can be seen in the actors considered to be his peers, spanning all the way to the actors getting work today. No one is safe from Brando’s awesome dominion.
This epic documentary pays homage to the life of a man recognized the world over for his impressive and diverse amount of characters portrayed. In typical bio-doc fashion, the film traces Brando’s timeline, beginning with his inception in Nebraska, through his years as a stunning young stage actor, to revered veteran actor, to family man, and in the end, worn down human being. In almost three hours, we get to see and know everything we ever wanted to about Brando, including his screen test for Rebel Without A Cause.
An extremely personal man who hated acting and regarded it as merely an unimportant task, Brando lived his life according to his own rules and mantras. He did what he wanted and how he wanted, and flushed out all his emotions onto the screen in his breathtaking performances. Having worked with some of the most important filmmakers of his time, such as Elia Kazan, Francis Ford Coppola, and Bernardo Bertolucci, Brando produced a monumental amount of work that is considered an important addition to the library of classic cinema. He will go down as one of the greatest actors in the annals of film history.
A wide variety of interviews with close friends, fellow actors, producers, and actors who looked up to him, the film bears down upon the viewer in recounting the life of a genius. At times longwinded and drawn out, the film seems interminable at times, but all for the glory of Brando. We see how his career flourished in the 1950’s, gaining him an Oscar for his performance in On the Waterfront, and then see how he decided to take more unconventional roles in the 60’s, almost single-handedly ruining his career.
And then the rebirth of Brando in the 70’s appears, as he gets picked for the role of a lifetime as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. A time of important films for Brando, the 70’s gave him back the reputation he was known all along for.
Despite the intrusive length, the film paints a vivid picture of one of the greats. A man who truly was the sign of greatness, Brando will always go down in history for his accomplishments, and this film can only help in cementing his legacy in the minds of filmgoers all over.