#ill put it in my tag sure fgkshgfkds

[mifhortunach]

G0DFATHER PT 3 THOUGHTS UNDER THE CUT, MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES

these are mostly kinda edited a bit so that ppl other than me / me in the the far flung future can actually get what im at ig?? but otherwise mostly wrote this just after ig, or thought about them during the #flik - that said! im several drinks in rn, & have smoked a lot this evening, so keep all that in mind ig lol

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it is mostly reiterating themes of the previous films (which im gonna get into, hopefully); but it’s VERY unclear to me what exactly it’s trying to get at - theres talk about how this is all bout like,, ~forgiveness; the bought vs unattainable nature of it & all, but truly I dont think that appears obviously/cleanly enough thru/o for that actually to be a like. Primary Theme in this vs a theme that was in mind but not taken to the fullest potential ykiwm?

I think performances are fine honestly, i LOVE diane keaton, think she’s being fuckn done dirty**, but by god do i wish she were still in more of this, lmao

eg wrt sofia coppola honestly??? like,, it’s a ‘bad’ enough performance that even *i* knew it wasn’t good, but TBH!! I think that’s an editing & directing issue rather than one w coppola herself yk??? like some of these scenes have extremely flat delivery, but surely a director that was looking out for both his cast & his movie would’ve/could’ve gotten smth better yk? at smth that didn’t sound like a fckn robot ig, ykwim?? two more takes & you couldve gotten her sounding fckn human at least. the most obvious example of this, and the worst part tbc, is the fckn kitchen scene where she goes to visit Vincent & theres pasta, yk how it is. Has all her lines facing away from camera, and ALL of them sound completely emotionless. I watched the siskel&ebert review of it earlier, & lbr, didnt have v high expectations going in, but I did agree w S that she does have a sorta guilelessness to her which is good! she seems SO young & unaware of the things that could go wrong - as well as coming across as someone - imo! - that has spent a lot of time having to play The Cute Kid as necessary in business/family stuff that while she knows what to do/how to do it, the role doesn't fit right anymore. if any of that makes sense - ALL of that said!! I think she was deffo failed by this, & I think a stronger/better version of this film would have to have someone else in that role :(

^^ wrt all that, like,,, imo the writing is Not So Great, which is the biggest issue, lotta parts of this don’t feel ‘right’ 2 me, wrt reactions, where ppl (Michael lbr) are (emotionally esp thru/o) etc etc - by which ig i mean, that there’s not enough seething going on in this one, ykwim? in a like,, Coiled Anger, there is NEVER a time after becoming the don that he is not Stewing over smth or other, & its just building up pressure but cannot be let out - one  moment of that in 2 is the abortion/divorce scene; otherwise its bottled.

& while still has some sudden outbursts of anger in this, but they feel kinda ineffectual, almost pitiful ig, idk. hes been defanged; theres NO menace to the Michael C0rle0ne presented here imo, except for in the areas where his reputation still proceeds him, and thats still all on the viewer to provide, certainly never gets felt. 

like, that said, theres a vision of this where all thats the case but it doesnt jar - like,, theres no flashbacks in this one, any comparisons/contrasts w Vito have to be coming from the viewer - but its hard not to immediately catch how much hes the fading away like Vito of the small couple of scenes before his death in the 1st movie. in a kinda,,, someone had begun to go Soft kinda way ig; a rotting fruit cant protect the interests of The Family, my successor is here id better ollie-outtie etc etc

if it were possible, & if BC ever did coppola, id wanna do this truly tho fhdbcjcnc 

think that,,, if there were a version of this that worked, still abt the legacy, moving on, kids etc; would NEED to cover a longer period && be set earlier in time; kids growing to resent or some shit?? idek, -the stretch into becoming legitimate business and the discovery of both its fundamental sameness to crime-business as well as the hollowness of it all ig

think there is some GOOD & rly HEAVY emotional weight to parts of this!!! but it is ONLY in subtext && what ur bringing to the view, doesn’t feel deliberate in the slightest from a dir pov imo - EVERYTHIng about kay! Anthony getting to run away to the life unassociated with the family vs the orig dream of that in the first, connie’s continued care-taking of Michael & the weird regrets she too holds bc she KNEW what was going on at points but never tried to change anything, the finally getting things #legit but its all corrupt all the way & its inescapable, etc etc  [yhis ties it like, my reading of Vito as like.. kinda idk, a loving father but one who was never REALLY there in a weird way, the presence is everywhere but hes always so BUSY, ygwim? vs Michael’s depiction here & what I would've imagined***]

***[I guess, what I would've thought, just coming from2, is that hes GONE, incapable of warmth ig; not for lack of care, but theres no way to connect; but in this hes like, godfathering & getting on w his kids & has ppl to turn to - which while probs legit, felt bad 2 me fjgfjgjgvj idk how to articulate it properly]

just like 2 echos 1; or like that essay says about them being essentially the same film remixed & recontextualised, this is that also - begins w a party, ends w multiple murders, old don trains a successor, a guy whose wicked like sonny is there (BIG thought of mine was that the guy playing Anthony should've played Vincent, bc he looks more like James C, but thats just my onion), convoluted murder plot to kill the head of the family, uhhhh

- running off of that, I REALLY wished thru/o that this has subs, bc the sound mix was rly weird & @ points I couldnt tell if ppl were talking- & if yeah, the fucvk about 

also im gonna say this badly but bears w me; ID like to read 1&2, or like,, the flashbacks vs ‘modern’ setting of 2 /, as more of a, Michael is doing what u DONT see Vito doing- all the coldness & murder & scheming are hidden in the flashbacks, thats all romance & period-dressing baby; & id like to imagine that parts of this are the same here, b 

movies that make pacino look SO VERY FCKN SHORT; like,,, obvs apparent elsewhere, but my fckn god, fhdbcjcndk

also, dunno if the old man make-up is rly that objectionable, if only bc it’s on screen for like,, 10s; DOES make him look like cohen a bit tho

obvs idk much about early italian american standing & stuff, but these always feel like they’re failing to recognise certain class angles ykwim? Mary as little cute spokesperson queen vs Vincent being a bastard mafia boy, the power that gets welded all bc they have SO much money yet theyre still not REAL Americans etc etc ig - like, it gets suggested, but in a way that rly suggests a lack of interest in it imo idk 

honestly maybe a BIG issue is that it doesn’t use the music ENOUGH yk !! like, 2 leaned HEAVY on it but still - ANYWAY, stan to ‘kay’ from the godfather pt 2 soundtrack - everything I managed to feel BIG in this film was honestly bc of this song

**by the script especially ! like, the whole ‘fwiw, I never stopped loving you michael’ stuff; dont get me wrong, I DO think thats one of the films stronger scenes; ditto honestly all the scenes w her & pacino. & I think thats one of the better written ones even; w his whole ‘oh u know I was going thru it- I *want* your total forgiveness, for everything’; which is So in line w ‘I realised I can change, I have the capacity to change’ stuff from 2, yk? but its been so long, & we saw so LITTLE of the pre-vito shooting Michael that him trying to woo her back on-side feels weird (which might be purposeful!), & kinda unnatural for the character ig, even w this ‘I gotta start squaring things off, ive got legit & im planning on retiring (to death ig????) soon’ stuff going on, idk. rugddhdutd ugh, all that said, kinda wish that there was a romcom version of this; winning her back, stopping being a self-obsessed presumpted asshole etc etc fgkshdfgkdshfgdks rip :’/

god anyway, im fckn tired, its almost 2am, heres what ur getting