The Godfather Returns to Theaters

The blockbuster film of 1972 was Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. 50 years later, it is returning to theaters so fans can view it on the big screen. I have watched this film probably 20 times at home, but it was nice to see it in a movie theater. The cast includes many big stars such as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and more. The term masterpiece is thrown around too much, but in this case I think it is applicable. Some may wince at the running time of almost three hours, but this is such an oustanding movie, that the length did not bother me. I think that the writing, acting, and cinematography are so well done that this qualifies as a film with no flaws. This has many iconic scenes and memorable quotes. The character of Clemenza says "Take the gun, leave the canoli." Later he says "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." Luca Brasi practices his speech to Vito Corleone over and over..."Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. And may their first child be a masculine child." Marlon Brando's character said "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." He also stressed the importance of family when he said "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." Two more of my favorite films are also 3 hours long...Casino and Scarface. I'd love to see those on the big screen as well.

Film Analysis: Amelie is a Masterpiece of French Cinema

I greatly enjoyed the French film Amelie (2001) the first time I saw it about eight years ago. I could relate on an emotional level to many of the themes of the story. This was obviously a work of art, created by someone who has a passion for the craft of film making. The story is emotional, lovely, whimsical and a delight, but also it was the look of the film that drew me in. No wonder it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including best cinematography. It was also nominated for a BAFTA award (Great Britain) and a Cesar (France) in the same category. The special features had a vignette that discussed the look of Amelie. The quote from the director, Jean Pierre Jeunet, spoke volumes about his work as an artist. He said "Nothing is difficult for me when making a film. I love so much to make. That's my reason to live." If only everyone felt that way about their career. It was pointed out that the look of the film had a lot to do with the saturation of colors. When watching the film I noticed that the color green was used extensively. As a complement, red was used as well, sometimes with a single blue object in the frame, like a blue lamp in a couple of cases. The director was influenced by a Brazilian painter named Fabio Marcelo who did the same thing. That painter uses vibrant colors much like one of my favorites, Romero Britto, who I have written about in an earlier blog post. In the vignette it was discussed how certain shots utilized a moving camera, but other shots used a fixed camera since the movement would disrupt from the emotional connection. The film Amelie was story boarded extensively, so the cast and crew knew exactly what to do when the arrived on set. I will give a synopsis of the film, detailing some of the key scenes and commenting on the emotional underpinnings of the work.

Amelie is a French girl, shy, timid and sheltered. She grew up with a father who is a doctor. She had very little affection as a child so the only time he touched her was when he gave her a physical exam. Her heart would race when he examined her, so he figured she had a heart condition. Due to this she was home schooled, which led to a childhood of isolation where her only friend was a fish. The little girl found ways to amuse herself and retreated into a world of imagination. She enjoyed the simple things in life, such as skipping stones on a pond. Her parents were the same way and her dad liked to empty out his tool box and re-arrange everything. Her mom liked to dump out her purse and re-arrange the contents. Young Amelie gets a camera and starts taking pictures of the world around her. She is sensitive and solemn.

Fast forward to the present, and Amelie works as a waitress at the Two Windmills Cafe. The film looks at her unusual co-workers, one of which is a hypochondriac. She goes to a movie every week and takes pleasure in watching the faces behind her of the movie patrons enjoying the show. She is single and lonely. A key character is a man in her building who has a disease where his bones are very brittle, so he must stay inside all day, otherwise he may break a bone. He is like a man made of glass, too fragile to take any chances. He paints a Renoir painting over and over, once per year, trying to get every detail just right. Amelie is living a life not much different than his, with her fragile heart made of glass, too delicate to risk emotional rejection from a male companion.

Amelie has a life changing experience when she finds a box hidden behind a loose tile in her bathroom. Inside are relics from a childhood: a toy car, a toy bike, a photograph, etc. She will find the owner of the box and return it to him. She finds out his name and leaves the box in a phone booth where the owner will find it. When he finds it, he is emotional and excited since the box takes him back to his childhood. Amelie feels wonderful since she has helped someone to find happiness. She feels a sense of harmony and elation. She feels like an outcast so much of the time but this makes her feel like she has done something special for someone else. One of the main themes of the film is that she works hard at helping others but in turn, neglects her own needs.

Her father has a garden gnome which he paints and takes care of. Amelie is jealous of the attention that the statue receives and she steals it. Later, the father gets pictures in the mail of the gnome at world landmarks as he travels the globe. I had to wonder if this film is what made the travel company, Travelocity, use the roaming gnome as their mascot.

Amelie does not like to see anyone mistreated. She notices that the neighborhood grocer is mean to his employee, belittling him in front of customers. Amelie gets her revenge by going into the grocer's apartment when he is not home and playing practical jokes on him. She swaps his slippers with a pair that are a size smaller, she sets his alarm clock for 4 a.m., she puts sugar in his wine, and other tricks that make him feel like he is losing his mind.

She finds a photo album full of pictures taken in a photo booth at the train station. She seeks out the owner of the album and returns it to him. But, she did not turn it over to him personally, she sends him on a wild goose chase, following different clues until he finally gets it back. There is a scene where Amelie (Audrey Tautou) has large dark sunglasses and a scarf on her head where she looks similar to Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Whether this was an homage to that film or not, I don't know.

Amelie wants to meet this man and develops an interest in him but even when she comes up with an elaborate scheme for them to meet, she chickens out and lets her fear get in the way of love. Toward the end of the film, the glass man sends her a video tape telling her to go for what she wants in life. She is not glass like him, and she needs to take chances. He tells her to go to the man she loves. Her crush had come to her door once but she did not open it. After she watched the video by the glass man she went to her door to go after him and he was there. They embrace, and the film ends with them riding though Paris on a scooter together, the look of joy on each of their faces.

This film is a delight. It is a feast for the eyes and the performance by Audrey Tautou was spot on. Amelie has a sense of mischief, whimsy and wonder. It is a celebration of life and love. Melancholy at times, yes, but the main theme is that life is too short, go after what you want. We are not made of glass. Even a broken heart will mend over time.

Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is No Longer #1

Earlier this week a list was released which has the top 50 films of all time, according to the critics, and other film experts. For 50 years, Citizen Kane was number one, but now it has been replaced by the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, Vertigo. Every 10 years the list is generated by Sight and Sound magazine, starting back in 1952. The magazine also polled over 350 directors, asking them to rank their top 10 films of all time.

The critic's top 10 include:

1. Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958

2. Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, 1941

3. Tokyo Story, Ozu Yazujiro, 1953

4. La Regle du jeu, Jean Renoir, 1939

5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, FW Murnau, 1927

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968

7. The Searchers, John Ford, 1956

8. Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1929

9. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Dreyer, 1927

10. 8 1/2, Federico Fellini, 1963

Some other notable films in the top 50:

14. Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola, 1979

20. Singin' in the Rain, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1951

21. The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola, 1972

28. Mulholland Dr, David Lynch, 2001

31. The Godfather Part II, Francis Ford Coppola, 1974

31. (tied) Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976

35. Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, 1960

The list of the top 10 films chosen by directors contains many of the films also in the top 10 of the critic's poll, but I thought it was interesting to see #5 as Taxi Driver, #6 as Apocalypse Now and #7 as The Godfather. Many feel that the 1970s in America was a golden age of film with auteurs such as Scorsese, Kubrick, Woody Allen and Coppola leading the way. I have seen very few movies that were made previous to the late 1960s so my knowledge of the early days of the medium is limited. I have also seen very few foreign films. When I watch a film I like to watch the film for the directing style, the acting nuances and the set design. With foreign films, reading the subtitles makes it hard to do that. My list of top films would include some on the above lists, but also many others would be added. If Hitchcock's Vetigo and Psycho are on the list, why not Rear Window? Scorsese's Taxi Driver is amazing, and one of my top 10 no doubt, but I would also include him for Raging Bull, GoodFellas and Casino. Kubrick's 2001 is an achievement, but I preferred A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. If the Godfather 1 and 2 are on the list, I would include another violent film by another Italian-American filmmaker, Scarface, by Brian DePalma. The absence of Woody Allen films is a mistake in my book, and I would include Annie Hall and Manhattan. Allen's hero, Ingmar Bergman was on the critic's list at #17 for Persona. I was surprised to see David Lynch on the list at #28 for Mulholland Drive since I preferred Blue Velvet. I would have included James Dean's tour de force, Rebel without a Cause, which I feel is too often overlooked as a masterpiece of cinema.

But, alas, with any list there is controversy about what was included and what was omitted. I often wonder if critics feel pressure to like the art house or foreign films, so they can hold onto their credibility. If they do, then that is too bad since many of the more down-to-earth, less cerebral films are also enjoyable. Would a critic feel odd to include The Wizard of Oz or It's a Wonderful Life? They shouldn't, since those are outstanding works of art.

With the lists I notice how few of the entries are films made in the last 20 years. It seems like the film industry has often catered to the lowest common denominator, sticking with sequels, remakes and films based on comic book heroes simply because they attract a wide audience. That is a shame. For that reason, people owe it to themselves to check out independent films and documentaries. These are made due to the love of the media of film and the passion to tell a story, not out of the desire to break box office records. Attend local film festivals and make it a point to seek out these gems. We all "vote" with our wallets for what we want to see.

Source: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time

Documentary Discussion

Documentary films are great because they make you think. Common themes for them tend to be either political/social issues or the arts. I have liked this genre of film ever since the 1980s when I watched Michael Moore's Roger and Me, about the demise of a former booming GM factory town, Flint, Michigan. Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me had such an effect on me that I have quit eating McDonald's cold turkey ever since I saw it eight years ago. Not every documentary filmmaker inserts themselves into the film like Spurlock and Moore. Many prefer to exist behind-the-scenes only. Charles Ferguson is another of my favorite documentary filmmakers. He made No End in Sight and Inside Job. Some of my favorite documentary films have dealt with agriculture and food in America. These include Food Inc., Fresh, King Corn and more.


I have discovered the Documentary cable channel recently and have rented a few docs via Netflix. Here are some that I recently saw and enjoyed.

A Life in the Theatre

This is about a woman who is in her 90s, and she has been the owner of an off-off Broadway live theatre in New York for many years. It was excellent since it demonstrated how the love of art can bring people together. Those who work in the theatre have an amazing camaraderie. Developers want to destroy the theatre but she fight to save it.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

This is about an Australian man who has battled obesity and the related health problems and comes to America to embark on a journey. He travels across the country, eating only a liquid diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables that he puts in a juicer. It is a look at obesity, health problems and the ability of humans to change their lives. The filmmaker ends up losing lots of weight, not needing any more medicine, and inspiring many others to do the same.

Music Man Murray

This is about an old man in Los Angeles who runs a record store. It is packed with thousands of recordings he has collected over a lifetime. He estimates that the store is worth a couple million dollars. The challenge is to sell the store and its content for a good price so his collection and his legacy will not be destroyed.

Map the Music

I enjoyed this film since it looks at the power of music to bring meaning to our lives. A woman is shattered after losing her father, so she embarks on a road trip to talk to everyday people and a few famous musicians about what music means to them.

The One Percent

This is an examination of the one percent of Americans who are ultra wealthy, and the 99 percent who are not. The filmmaker is one of the heirs to the Johnson and Johnson family fortune. He talks to rich and poor, about the distribution of wealth in America, despite the fact that his family does not want him to make the film. Relatives of Warren Buffett and Oscar Meyer also appeared in the film.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

This movie was a fascinating look at a comedy legend and her struggles to remain a relevant member of the show business world. Even though Joan Rivers is 75 years old and has had decades of success, she still has a fragile ego and she longs to be accepted. The film shows her performing stand up in New York as well as at an Indian casino in Wisconsin. It shows her doing a roast on Comedy Central, and it documented her opening a play in Scotland and England. She revealed that she originally wanted to be known as an actress not a comedienne. She is OK with people criticizing her comedy but has a thin skin if people are critical of her acting skills. She acknowledges that show business is challenging since rejection is a big part of the industry. The movie mentioned how Johnny Carson gave her her big break in the 1960s but later quit speaking to her when she took a job on Fox as a late night host. She mentioned how her husband Edgar was devastated by the failure of the Fox show and later committed suicide. Joan's daughter Melissa mentioned that stand ups are generally insecure people, craving attention and approval, and that her mother is no exception. Rivers seemed like a very lonely person whose main goal is to fill up her calendar with work so she does not have time to think about her life outside of her career.