Media Criticism

This week’s interview subject in the New York Times Magazine was director Francis Ford Coppola. I know the hotter story this past week was the cover story involving Mike Huckabee, the Devil, God and other nonsense. I am not going to get into the coverage because I can tell you what I think of that story in a single sentence: The issue of religion in politics has been drummed up by reporters who want to gain access to politicians, influence voters and sell magazines. That being said, I think that the Coppola interview was a less than revealing look at this hyped director.

I have seen The Godfather multiple times over the years and enjoyed the movie. I don’t fall into the many people who worship The Godfather as if it were directed from on high. This affliction seems to strike at 30- and 40-somethings who share an affinity for reciting the same dozen Caddyshack quotes during meals. The movie was entertaining but it has also spawned an obsession in recreating the The Godfather experience in the last two decades. In this sense, Coppola’s answers to questions lobbed by interviewer Deborah Solomon fall between pretention and annoyance.

Francis Ford Coppola spends some time (I imagine more in the unedited version of the interview) talking about his new film “Youth without Youth,�? how little it cost to make and its philosophical underpinnings. I appreciate that Coppola is aging and wants to head a different route but any time an interviewer asks a director to examine independent movies the response comes off as pretentious. Solomon and Coppola share the blame for the ensuing conversation which sounds like two college students trying to figure out how to sound smart after reading the back cover of Plato’s Republic.

I am torn in the end by Coppola’s persona as projected through this interview. He brushes off a question about The Godfather in a way that I appreciate but the rest of the interview Coppola seems to be conflicted about his legacy as a director. No one will remember “Youth without Youth�? and few will remember his gaffes since The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Francis Ford Coppola could have spent the last two decades trying to change his reputation, cultivate credibility in the indie film game and begin a rebirth as a different type of director. In the end, an interview in the New York Times Magazine will not get the job of changing legacies done.