Francis Ford Coppola, 68, on Youth Without Youth (see trailer below), his first film since the dreadful — and highly successful — 1997 courtroom melodrama The Rainmaker:
"When you venture into new territories … you know that it's different than Spider-Man or Shrek or other films that are immediately met with success. So, part of being an artist who wants to look at new areas (is knowing that) it will take a while for people to be familiar with the film. I only ask you to think that my film was interesting."
Variety's Jay Weissberg failed to heed Coppola's plea:
"Not just fans of Francis Ford Coppola will be disappointed by the mishmash plotting and stilted script of Youth Without Youth, the master's first helming effort in 10 years. … Attempting to harness multiple genres, pic is brought down by ponderous dialogue (much of it dubbed) and an inability to connect with its characters. Limited bicoastal opening is set for Dec. 14, though Youth Without Youth will translate to cinemas without audiences."
Written by Coppola from a novella by Mircea Eliade, the French-Italian-Romanian Youth Without Youth tells the story of a 70-year-old Romanian professor of linguistics who becomes younger after being struck by lightning. (If only my Aunt Imhegard had been as lucky.) The electrical current also gives the professor added intellectual abilities, which in turn attract the attention of the Nazis shortly before World War II. He goes into exile, and while on the run reencounters the love of his life.
In the cast: Tim Roth, and two members of the Downfall troupe, Alexandra Maria Lara and Bruno Ganz.
Youth Without Youth premiered a couple of days ago at the RomeFilmFest.
Quote: The Guardian / Associated Press
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Hey, Marcus,
I gotta admit that I actually liked — very much — Coppola's "Dracula."
That was one of precious few instances when I felt that style made just about everything else in the film — the poor acting, the poor screenplay — nearly irrelevant. (Talk about focusing on form while ignoring content.)
Francis Ford Coppola is so overrated, the only director more overrated than he is, is his daughter Sophia. There are so many more more brilliant directors out there why focus on someone who's last great triumph was in 1974. Some would call him selective but I say someone is still riding high on their prestige from two decades ago. Maybe if he got over himself he could make a decent film every now and then.