The 2000s, A Decade in Retrospect...I discover The Godfather

[from The Godfather: Part II]

The 2000s, A Decade in Retrospect is a series where I will be professing my love to the pop culture wonders that I discovered during this decade, but not specific to this decade.

When I was eleven, the only legitimate live-action "classic" I've seen and loved, released before 1990 was Rain Man. I loved the movie to pieces. Thought Dustin Hoffman was fantastic. Tom Cruise as well. The ending touched my tremendously. I still think positively of that film, though repeated viewings have diminished my heightened adoration.

But The Godfather was the film that turned on my curiosity for the realm of cinematic classics. I'd like to think that, without The Godfather, I would have never touched It's a Wonderful Life, The Philadelphia Story, or Roman Holiday with a ten-foot pole. Anything before the 80s would still be, sadly, off-limits for me, as far as my interests go.

I saw The Godfather by accident.

I was surfing the TV Guide website on my old dial-up Internet connection, looking for a movie to watch with my mom for the remaining duration of a lazy Saturday afternoon. I told her that The Godfather was going to be on network television today later in the afternoon. While I may have been bored, sitting in front of the television for four hours watching a single movie didn't sound very inviting.

But my mom managed to live forty years of her life avoiding The Godfather movies altogether. She said she wanted to see it. I told her I was uninterested.

I remember seeing The Godfather movies on the shelves of the local video rental store and while I was curious about them, a 70s mafia epic was never supposed to suck me in. I still preferred Mary Kate and Ashley movies at the time.

But I was really bored. When the movie started, I decided to sit down and give that sepia-tinted world a whirl. I knew I could leave at any time. But I didn't leave, unless you count in the occasional bathroom breaks.

While I wasn't too impressed with the first half-hour or so (I have learned to appreciate those scenes by now), the iconic scene when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) goes to the restaurant and shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey to prove his allegiance to his family pulled me right in.

There aren't many scenes like that and even less that are so well-acted and well-directed. The intensity boils at such a high temperature that the moment everything cracks, it feels like someone just kicked open that imaginary cinematic door for the film and the audience become one.

Pacino's performance was the reason I stayed around to watch that phenomenal scene. He is simply an incredible actor. While his recent film choices have been questionable, Pacino has unquestionable screen presence. I couldn't leave my seat, not after the moment where Michael tells his girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton) about who his family is and what they do.

While I wasn't completely sucked in yet, but I was already partially invested in Michael Corleone. I tend to forget about Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) altogether. I haven't seen many Brando films, but from what I have seen (this and A Streetcar Named Desire), I don't care for him, but that might as well change in the future.

That said, Michael Corleone is my favorite film character of all-time.

This is perhaps why I love The Godfather: Part II. I saw it two years after I've seen the original (I don't know why it took so long) and thought it was absolutely brilliant. In the winter break of eighth grade, I watched The Godfather: Part II four times. And considering it clocks around 3 hours and 20 minutes, I believe I achieved something fantastically awesome. Or that I have no life. But either way, it was worth it.

Parallel storytelling has never been done better. Robert De Niro is intimidating, touching, devastating, cunning, and self-assured as young Vito. The scene where Vito kills Fanucci is a powerful scene, the kind that you watch and gasp for breath afterward. And when Vito joins his family and tells baby Michael that he loves him very much, we get a telling glimpse into the Vito-Michael dynamic.

We realize that Michael's destiny has always been to inherit Vito's crime empire. While Vito may have respected Michael's initial wishes to not be part of the bullet parade, Vito knew, deep down, that Michael was the only son with the potential to keep things in order.

We see Vito's rise juxtoposed with his son's modern personal downfall. Michael has everything a mafia don desires: Intelligence. Power. Success. Michael is sucking up the American Dream with a vacuum. But his personal relationships are crumbling.

Michael's wife, Kay is pregnant and unhappy; Michael has failed to keep his promise to make the family business legitimate. Michael's brother, Fredo (John Cazale), is jealous and angry of his worthless and easily replaceable position in the business. Michael's sister, Connie (Talia Shire) is still mad at him for what he's done to her husband and tries to distract herself with escapades with randon men.

While Vito was loved and respected by his family, Michael is too cold to be embraced by anyone. He can get the job done, but no one close to him is going to bother to congratulate him at the end of the day.

The Godfather: Part II also features two of the most criminal Oscar snubs of all-time: John Cazale and Diane Keaton. Sure, Lee Strasberg is an interesting antagonist and Talia Shire delivers a good performance, but Cazale and Keaton's performances are explosions in epic proportions. I think of Cazale in the boat house scene. I think of Keaton in the hotel room scene. The fact that their performances were dismissed by the Academy back in 1973 was, and always will be, blasphemous. I can't think of better examples of Academy injustice.

But it goes back to Pacino, who is brilliant in every frame of the film. I have never felt so much sympathy for a fictional murderer in my life. I think of the person Michael was, and the person he became. He didn't want any of this. But he's completely capable in fulfilling his duties. He's incredibly good at the job he unwillingly (and over time, willingly) does. Somewhere down the road, he got lost. He doesn't know if he's doing this for his family, his deceased father, or for himself. But he's constantly keeping everything together when he so desperately wants it to all shatter.

The last scene is heartbreaking, every time I think about it. It masterfully creates the desolate state of loneliness. Michael has lost everything he cares about. He has become the man he feared he would become.

But the transformation is complete and there's no going back.

Yet he does in The Godfather: Part III. I love that movie and will defend it when necessary. I even wrote a self-titled "love letter" to the film this past summer because I wanted to.

Pacino is, once again, excellent in The Godfather: Part III. Michael is softer now and more like Vito. But his ex-wife, Kay, still doesn't respect him. Michael's family business is still not legitimate, although he really is trying this time around. It's a riveting portrait that is indeed crumbling, yet everything still feels so alive.

It is an inescapable spiral that never ends.

I became obsessed with The Godfather for a while. I went on GangsterBB practically everyday to read the posts. I watched films that Godfather fans enjoyed (Scarface sucks, GoodFellas rocks). I watched a crapload of Pacino movies for a period of time because damn, the man's thrilling to witness as any character in any movie. I even read Mario Puzo's novel, which pales in comparison to the films.

While the choice trilogies of my generation usually included only The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, I rebelled and embraced The Godfather. Because there is no other story in cinema quite like it.

A Love Letter to a Polarizing Film

The Godfather: Part III, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1990 (4.5/5)

I've always had a soft spot for The Godfather: Part III.

But it's often declared as one of the worst sequels ever. For a film that has cemented its name in the universe of cinematic crap, it was nominated for six Academy Awards back when it was released, including Best Picture. Gene Siskel placed it on his Top Ten of 1990 and Roger Ebert rewarded the film three-and-a-half stars. The general critical response at the time was mostly positive and the film currently holds a 66% "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes. And it was moderately successful at the box office, grossing around $66 million in the U.S. alone.

Despite the initial warm welcoming, the film has always gotten a cold reception from its audience and it only gets colder as it ages.

Godfather purists--meaning fans of the first two films--have always been the most apparent critics of Part III. I realize that it's not a perfect film--the ending is insanely confusing (even after my three viewings), Sofia Coppola is mostly an incapable actress, the incestuous relationship is ridiculous, the whole son-wanting-to-be-an-opera-singer thing is forced, and the metaphorical dialogue is nearly laughable--but it's an admirable piece of work for a film that was purely intended to get director Francis Ford Coppola out of bankruptcy.

Part III pulls its audience back into the sepia-tinted world of the Corleone family, also known as the violent, inescapable purgatory of Don Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) life. It's been nearly twenty years since we've seen the Michael in Part II, sitting alone outside his Tahoe home, and contemplating everything he had lost--his brother, his wife, and his dreams of a legitimate family business. Michael became his worst enemy--and still is.

Michael has since transformed himself into a respectable businessman and philanthropist. For the past twenty years, he has been pushing his family business towards legitimacy, fulfilling a promise he made to his ex-wife, Kay (Diane Keaton) before their marriage. Although Michael is an honored man, he's a lonely one too. In old age, he wants the comfort of family, but his opera-singing son, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) wants nothing to do with the family business and Kay has moved on to a more secure, conventional marriage to a judge. All he really has left is his naively vulnerable daughter, Mary (Sofia Coppola), and all the greedy men who wants to make money off his crime empire.

Things shake up when Michael's bastard nephew, Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) enters the picture. Vincent is as aggressive, intuitive, and trigger-crazy as his late father, Santino. Vincent is tired of working for the small-time, photogenic, showman gangster, Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), and wants to work for Michael. At first, Michael is hesitant, but he's getting old, sick, and sentimental--he gives in to Vincent and his little sister Connie's (Talia Shire) wishes, and generously offers Vincent the chance to be part of the Corleone family, where Vincent's true roots are.

Vincent's not shy to show what he's got: He wants to get rid of Joey Zasa and quickly wins the fragile, romantic heart of his cousin, Mary. Michael realizes that Vincent's violent and romantic escapades are dangerous, but he sees potential in this ambitious punk: Vincent has his father's headstrong, dedicated heart, and his grandfather's calculting negotiation skills of pragmatism and reason. Most of all, Michael sees a man he can trust with the future of the family business.

There is this subplot involving a real estate company that is partially run by the Vatican that the Corleone family is trying to gain control of. There is money to be made and all the other crime families want in. But all that seems to fade to the background. This is a film about a man who wants to redeem himself and hopes to God that it's not too late to be saved.

There is a powerful scene in the film where Michael confesses his sins to a priest. It's beautifully filmed in the garden and it's one of the most poignant scenes I've ever seen--and one of the most memorable scenes Pacino has ever filmed. Michael confesses that he's betrayed his wife, himself, and killed numerous men, including his own brother. He breaks down because he knows that even if God forgives him, he can never forgive himself.

Pacino is the foundation of the Godfather series. I don't think any of the films would ever be as effective if it weren't for him. I've never revered Marlon Brando's legendary performance as Don Vito Corleone. To me, The Godfather has always been about Pacino's Michael and that intense, alluring complexity that is so central to Pacino's performance. There has never been a cinematic villain that I have sympathized with more than Michael Corleone and I don't think there ever will be. Part II shows the rise of a calculating crime boss and Part III shows the heartbreaking downfall of a tainted dreamer; Pacino understands both sides immensely well.

Pacino also has fabulous chemistry with Keaton, who plays the love of Michael's life and the mother of his children, Kay. Kay knows several secrets about Michael's history and acts as the conscience he doesn't necessarily want, but knows he needs. She still cares about him, but after all these years of bullets and broken promises, it's hard for her to not feel some disdain for his mafia lifestyle. Pacino and Keaton's scenes together in Sicily are precious; they both acknowledge a life that they could once attain, but destiny turned out differently. It's subtley romantic, but ultimately heartbreaking. It's also two great actors at their finest.

But bad habits are hard to break: There is an excellent scene where Vincent shaves Michael and Michael tells Vincent to "sell his soul" to the enemy, Don Altobello (Eli Wallach), the Hyman Roth of Part III. The entire scene intercuts with Vincent trying to convince Don Altobello that he's changing sides. It's a scene filmed with some suspenseful creativity and shows with gentle, subtle touches that Michael can still run the business and as long as he's the head of the business, he's going to run it to the best of his abilities.

Part III is shot with glorious mastery by cinematographer Gordon Willis. Everything from the dark walls of the Corleone home to the sun-drenched country of Sicily is illustrated beautifully. The signature score by Nino Rota still soars with atmospheric wonder to this world that we've known so long and continuously return to.

The numerous murders at the end of the film are rather confusing and sometimes even slow, but they are ingeniously intercut with a live Italian opera, starring Michael's son, Anthony.

There seems to be a lot of controversy about Sofia Coppola's performance. The role originally went to Winona Ryder, who had to drop out because she was sick when production began. Ryder, being an established professional actress, would have been an appropriate choice for Mary. But I find it hard to blame Coppola for her lackluster performance because her father made the decision to put her on celluoid.

Coppola, however amateur her performance is, shockingly brings a certain indescribable vulnerability and warmth to her performance. There is a scene near the end of the film where Mary's heart is undeniably in shambles and she just stares on, with all the sadness and tears of a lost schoolgirl. At that point, it's difficult not to feel an iota of sympathy for her.

Consider this my love letter to Part III. The film is a quintessential crime epic and blockbuster of the nineties (along with GoodFellas, which was released in the same year), shot with mastery and skill, and told with heart, compassion, and emotional complexity. It's a rare film in a batch of mindless modern shoot-em-ups. There will never be another film series quite like The Godfather and I might as well cherish its delicately flawed--yet completely heartbreaking--finale.

A Gallery of My Favorite Cinematic Couples

I'm glad to announce that I'm still well and alive. And I do remember that I own a film blog.

To celebrate this wonderful holiday of love and expensive chocolates on my blog, I decided to make a little gallery of my favorite cinematic couples (in no particular order). So here I go...

Perhaps one of the most romantic moments in film...ever. Short, sweet, and amazingly memorable.

I don't care what happened in the books. I'm delusional: Harry and Hermione forever. And it helps that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have incredible chemistry.

The best romantic comedy ever made. Gregory Peck (sigh) and Audrey Hepburn shines brighter than ever in that gorgeous Roman backdrop.

Jo and Laurie are my favorite literary couple and I am convinced my life would have been much better if Jo just accepted Laurie's marriage proposal! That said, Winona Ryder and Christian Bale's performances and chemistry makes me even more frustrated and annoyed that Jo and Laurie don't end up together.

How can any list of this sort be complete without the immortal Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler?

This is a very unconventional choice, but I've always found the relationship between Michael Corleone and Kay Adams quite fascinating. The farther Michael moves away from Kay, emotionally and physically, the farther away he is from his American Dream. Al Pacino and Diane Keaton (in one of the most underrated performances ever) portray the dynamics between the two wonderfully.

Unrequited love...sigh.

One of the sweetest couples ever. One boy, one special boy...sigh. Bobby Rydell and Ann-Margret are adorably irresistible.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan proves the power of predictably cutsey, cheesy charm.

"You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you!" Then comes the famous line...

-----

I hope you enjoyed this gallery. Feel free to discuss and bring up your own personal favorites. Next time, I'll aim for something a little more substantial.

The 12 Movies Meme

I was tagged by the awesome J.D. of Valley Dreamin'. The meme looked like a lot of fun, so I thought I'd give it a go.

According to the Lazy Eye Theatre blog entry, the idea came when the blogger read an article about Diablo Cody getting to choose 12 films to be featured at the New Beverly Cinema.

"The Meme that asks what if YOU could pick 12 movies to run at the New Beverly Cinema?"

1) Choose 12 Films to be featured. They could be random selections or part of a greater theme. Whatever you want.

2) Explain why you chose the films.

3) Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre so Piper can have hundreds of links and she can take those links and spread them all out on the bed and then roll around in them.

4) The people selected then have to turn around and select 5 more people.

At first, I wanted to categorize the movies with really random stuff like, "movies with cool flying scenes" or "movies that deals with gardening." But then the categories just did not sound cool enough so I just thought I'd keep it simple and go with broader subjects/themes.

So I guess my theater is closed on Tuesday because closing on Sunday would be ridiculous and unsound when it comes to the world of the movie theater biz. I picked a lot of movies that I personally want to see in theaters since I've never got the chance. I kind of drowned in rambling for some of the movies I picked since I never really had the opportunity to profess my love to them.

Dysfunctional Sunday

I picked Ordinary People because I love that movie tremendously. It has one of the most powerful ensembles I've ever seen. The performances by Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Judd Hirsch are all superb. Plus, first-time director Robert Redford's use of Pachelbel's "Canon in D" makes the film's opening and ending scenes domestic but strangely heartbreaking. It doesn't feature the quirky, weirdo dysfunctional family in the veins of The Squid and the Whale and Little Miss Sunshine (I considered both), but rather in a seemingly "normal" household where the father is utterly confused and the mother doesn't even love her own son. That's enough for me to conclude that the Jaretts has as much problems as their other so-called more dysfunctional cinematic family counterparts. Definitely one of my favorite movies of all-time and I would love to see this film on the big-screen someday.

The Royal Tenenbaums is the quirky, weirdo dysfunctional family that I previously mentioned. It was a choice between this or Junebug, but I just had to settle with Wes Anderson's smart, witty, and touching little masterpiece about the depressing adult lives of genius children. Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, and Bill Murray, that's enough for me to want to watch this movie in theaters (yes, because of that cast). The script is pure wonder--sweet and full of Anderson's trademark deadpan humor. Oh, and how can you go wrong with a kickass soundtrack featuring Nico, The Rolling Stones, and The Velvet Underground? You can't. The movie has a very seventies feel to it, too, not only in the soundtrack but also in the costumes and sets. I'd love to have a The Royal Tenenbaums theater experience.

Unrequited Monday (Definitely spoiler-ish.)

Like I said in my review of Antoine and Colette, I love movies about unrequited love. There is a certain spirit about love unrequited love on film that is unquestionably romantic and powerful. Giant, apart from being a film of epic proportions, is a great story of unrequited love. The way James Dean's Jett Rink declared his love with anguish to Leslie Benedict (Elizabeth Taylor) in an empty hall with Leslie's daughter eavesdropping by the barely-opened door is one of the epic's greatest moments and perhaps even one of the greatest moments in cinema, period. So of course I'd like to witness that on a big-screen. The bigger the screen is, the better, because then it can showcase every centimeter of George Stevens's masterful direction and grand utilization of the widescreen format.

I've said many times that I consider Roman Holiday to be one of my favorite romantic comedies. When I really think about it, Roman Holiday is far from a pure romantic comedy. It has plenty of dramatic moments and it is the dramatic core that makes the film realistic and effective. The last scene where Gregory Peck's good-hearted American reporter Joe Bradley walks out of that hall makes one of my favorite endings ever. It is not an unrealistic cliche, but wholeheartedly bittersweet and memorable. While Audrey Hepburn may have stolen the show, Gregory Peck stole my heart.

World War II Wednesday

Empire of the Sun is one of my favorite movies ever. The gorgeous cinematography, the lush John Williams score, and the coming-of-age story has been charred in my mind forever. This may not be in the same league as Steven Spielberg's other WWII movies (minus the horrendous 1941), but it is all very classic Spielberg. The initial boyish wonder morphs into a gradual descent into the lost of innocence--all that is done with a certain cinematic magic that only Spielberg seems to know how to convey perfectly on-screen. In addition, the film features my all-time favorite child performance of all time: Christian Bale as Jamie "Jim" Graham.

I didn't want to pick another Spielberg WWII film, so I went with "The Movie That Should Have Won Best Picture of 2006 But Was Beaten By That One Scorsese Movie," Letters From Iwo Jima. I actually saw this one in theaters and loved it. The film lacks the lavishness that I like to see on the big-screen, but it's extraordinarily touching in every way. Clint Eastwood's war film is less a war film and more about humanity. The film was made as an afterthought after Eastwood made Flags of Our Fathers but it never feels like an afterthought. It is a brilliant companion piece that surpasses its predecessor in every way.

Gangster Thursday

I just want to see The Godfather: Part II in theaters. It is one of those films that I would die to see in theaters, even more than the other Godfather films. I mean, seeing or The GodfatherThe Godfather: Part III would be super cool, but The Godfather: Part II on the big-screen would blow my mind. There are too many great scenes in the film for me to name, but I'll try anyway: Michael kisses Fredo on New Year's in Cuba, Kay reveals to Michael that she received an abortion (Diane Keaton...whoa), the boathouse scene between Michael and Fredo (just sums up why John Cazale was robbed of an Oscar nomination), when Michael tells Pentangeli that his father's advice (you know which one I'm talking about), young Vito in Italy, with a vengeance...I mean, wouldn't all that just be awesome in a theater? (And that poster above is probably the most effortlessly badass poster ever.)

I needed another gangster film so, um, GoodFellas. But this movie is seriously entertaining. I don't think there is another film that moves faster or crazier. Definitely one of Scorsese's best.

Detective Friday

Dick Tracy is just a lot of fun. You've got Warren Beatty's goofy film-noir imitation of a performance, Madonna's sultry voice added to Stephen Sondheim songs, and Al Pacino's menacing Hitler-like (in looks) villain. Then you have those eye-catching sets and costumes colored with the bright vividness of ketchup red and raincoat yellow.

There are only a few films that gave that rare "OMFG" feeling when I'm finally finished with them, and L.A. Confidential is among those greats. It is what some might like to call a "modern film-noir," but at heart, it's just a smart, suspenseful, and all-around fantastic period piece and crime movie. The film has a great cast, featuring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, James Crowell, and Danny DeVito. I love Wikipedia's description of the film:

The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism, institutional racism, plastic surgery and Hollywood.

Yeah, the movie's got everything.

Filmmaking Saturday

When I think of "filmmaking on film," I instantly think of Federico Fellini's weird, wildly imaginative, and moving 8½. Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) captivated me and the artist in me (there isn't really one, haha) I unexpectedly related to him. I guess as a wannabe-writer who frequently run out of ideas after page ten, I know how it feels like to be creatively bankrupt. But not only is Guido creatively bankrupt, there is a lot of pressure for him to churn out an idea. He even has a freaking movie set being built and actors lined up for his next movie that isn't even developed yet. I've always had a love for movies that are semi-autobiographic and personal to the creator's heart, and 8½ is in some ways Fellini's David Copperfield, but only expressing a certain feeling of fear and confusion rather than an entire life story. While I'm on the topic of 8½, Rob Marshall's cast for Nine is insanely wonderful in a it's-too-good-to-be-true kind of way. I can't wait.

Speaking of musicals, my last addition is Singin' in the Rain. I wanted to end my "week" with a happy, optimistic film, and there isn't anything as happy or optimistic as Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's song and dance extravaganza. (Filmmaking Friday would sound nice, though. But I wanted a happy ending.) Besides being a movie musical, it's a clever and funny take on the film industry's transition from silent to sound and even of the Hollywood publicity machine.

------------

I'm tagging recent commenters Shawn of Deadpan, Farzan of At the Movies with Farzan, plus Anil of The Long Take, Kayleigh of Shiny Happy Blog, and Nick of Fataculture. No worries if you don't feel like doing it, I'll understand. But for those who are doing the meme, I look forward to seeing what made your movie list!