Virgin Suicides & LiT & Sophia Coppola, Oh My!
03-26-04, 05:52 PM
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Virgin Suicides & LiT & Sophia Coppola, Oh My!
I just watched Virgin Suicides last night for the first time. After having seen LiT and loving it (yes I know a lot of people don't like it... but this post is not about a review of LiT), I thought I'd check out Sophia's other product as a writer/director. Let me just say I liked Virgin Suicides too.
Now here's my question.
Is it just me, or is Sophia Coppola kinda sad and or borderline depressed? Or at least those are the types of movies that she is drawn to making? Don't get me wrong, I liked both of her films, and I think she's got a gift at telling these types of stories, but is it coincidence that she picks really melancholy subject matter?
Anyone see her at the Academy Awards? Or the behind-the-scenes featurette on the LiT DVD? She has a real quite sadness about her. Not the type where people launch into torrents of tears and wail at the tops of their lungs about their pain, but the kind where it's like a deep sigh that you can't get out. Both of her movies, I felt, had a real melancholy tone buried deep within its main characters.
OK, maybe I'm just a little nuts
, but anyone else notice this?
-nox
Now here's my question.
Is it just me, or is Sophia Coppola kinda sad and or borderline depressed? Or at least those are the types of movies that she is drawn to making? Don't get me wrong, I liked both of her films, and I think she's got a gift at telling these types of stories, but is it coincidence that she picks really melancholy subject matter?
Anyone see her at the Academy Awards? Or the behind-the-scenes featurette on the LiT DVD? She has a real quite sadness about her. Not the type where people launch into torrents of tears and wail at the tops of their lungs about their pain, but the kind where it's like a deep sigh that you can't get out. Both of her movies, I felt, had a real melancholy tone buried deep within its main characters.
OK, maybe I'm just a little nuts
, but anyone else notice this?-nox
03-27-04, 01:33 AM
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Some of my favorite artist are boarder line something. Hell one even cut off his own ear. Perhaps it's that madness that allows them to create such great work. I for one don't question it.
03-27-04, 11:54 PM
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If you expect film directors (especially ones who do drama) to be happy, boppy, chipper people, I got a bridge to sell you. 
It's not necessary to be a miserable a-hole to be a 'serious' artist but you gotta see that some filmmakers are afflicted by their visions as if they're demonic sicknesses, and then they have to slave and canoodle and chessbox FOR YEARS to get the damn things realized.
Sofia was universally derided for her performance in Godfather III; then, despite her name, she had to build her credibility up enough to get to do her first movie--and THEN, despite that one being well-received, she had to put it all on the line AGAIN to get Lost and Translation done, with Bill Murray keeping her on pins-and-needles until the last minute.
I think a history like that would take a lot out of most people, don't you?
It's not necessary to be a miserable a-hole to be a 'serious' artist but you gotta see that some filmmakers are afflicted by their visions as if they're demonic sicknesses, and then they have to slave and canoodle and chessbox FOR YEARS to get the damn things realized.
Sofia was universally derided for her performance in Godfather III; then, despite her name, she had to build her credibility up enough to get to do her first movie--and THEN, despite that one being well-received, she had to put it all on the line AGAIN to get Lost and Translation done, with Bill Murray keeping her on pins-and-needles until the last minute.
I think a history like that would take a lot out of most people, don't you?
03-28-04, 06:04 PM
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Nobody wants to watch a movie about a bunch of really happy people whose lives are all rosy. Except my mother-in-law... Even if she isn't a depressed person herself, she's probably drawn to stories and characters that are, like most people.
03-28-04, 08:15 PM
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The greatest artists always dig deep into personal demons etc.
I think she is gonna have the pressure of the world on her to produce a great third film.
No doubt she'll have everyone in Hollywood lining up for the parts.
I think she is gonna have the pressure of the world on her to produce a great third film.
No doubt she'll have everyone in Hollywood lining up for the parts.
03-29-04, 03:32 PM
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I have to admit. I was one of those people that flamed her performance in Godfather III. And if I in some way contributed to her acute depression, I'm sorry. 
But c'mon! It was a lame acting performance. I'd like to think that in a small way, maybe the criticism served to point her in the right direction (no pun intended) to explore her talents as a writer/director vs. her questionable skills in the acting arena.
I think her 2 films thus far have placed her among the top in her generation of directors. Lets hope though, that she doesn't make the same mistakes in casting her 3rd installment that her father did.
-nox
But c'mon! It was a lame acting performance. I'd like to think that in a small way, maybe the criticism served to point her in the right direction (no pun intended) to explore her talents as a writer/director vs. her questionable skills in the acting arena.
I think her 2 films thus far have placed her among the top in her generation of directors. Lets hope though, that she doesn't make the same mistakes in casting her 3rd installment that her father did.
-nox
