Coppola's attitude

FFC was going through a very troubled time, but wow, is that thing awful. I'm always trying to find something good in every film, because it's the most democratic art form we've ever had, but it's very difficult in this case.

I thought Sofia was 8, not 18. Godawful.

It's one thing to escape into a fantasy world. Surely some attention has to be spent on the nature of that fantasy world. I'm not asking for Brazil or something, but if you're gonna put the beggar in there, at least show us his face. That's the scene everybody seems to be talking about, and I can see why. Make him a Shakespearean thing, or a Chaplin - don't just present the viewer with a voice coming from a box.

Or at least use good music. Why - of all instruments - the flute? Probably Pan, and Shiva, and the fantasy element of the most unlikely music star - but then at least try to put some bearable music in there. The arpeggia at the start are okay. Stay with that. The Parthenon thing makes us think of the pan flute master - Zamfir, Master of the pan Flute, just looked it up.

Damn, is that thing awful. Just watched 2 seconds again. It's like peering at a wound under a bandage after surgery. Chris Elliott robbing the Ritz, or whatever the hell it's supposed to be. Storraro's Dutch angle, and the inexplicable cameo of an airport paperback bio of Duvall - an injoke? Knowing nod? Self-acknowledgement?

I think "Zoe" could be the worst thing I've ever seen, in any medium. (I know somebody who was up for the lead, thank God she wasn't cast.)

Scorsese, meanwhile, winds up for Wise Guys. You can smell the paint. There are whole lines of dialogue gifted writers other than Prince would have messed up. "Gut-shot dog." Nolte, as good as anyone.

Woody's okay, but it takes a good 30 minutes to begin the laborious process that is dealing with the trauma of having watched Life Without Zoe. Even the title is heartbreaking, the whole thing is a disaster. Hard to think of an equally uneven career in the arts. This makes the nadir of solo Paul McCartney look like Veronese. It makes the kid in Star Wars Episode One look like Martin Sheen in Badlands.

I guess Stravinsky comes to mind, but his worst stuff is cynical, in-your-face "revenge commercialism." The problem here is that it's all genuine. Maybe some of those George Lucas things are this bad, Willow, or the Muppet ones, I never saw any of them.

The problem here isn't the technical craft, obviously, it's the horrendous sociopathy of the thing. Talk about an ax to grind. I get he's trying to reclaim some semblance of respect for the artist in the age of late capitalism, but yikes.