No one can doubt that Francis Ford Coppola was one of the greatest forces in the world of cinema, a genius behind many classics ("The Godfather" trilogy, "The Conversation")
but also a crazed artist driven by his impulses in pushing himself, his cast and crew to the limit everybody had to follow his vision (as seen in the troubled shooting of "Apocalypse
Now" or the millions spent in the Las Vegas recreation of "One From the Heart" which was so costly that for 15 years all the subsequent movies made by him were done to pay for the
debts he got from it, which also resulted in the bankrupcy of his American Zoetrope company). Yet he made it through in the industry and left his mark, and his upcoming
"Megalopolis" is a passion project of more than 20 years that it's getting closer to get a release at last.
This short documentary by Monte Hellman presents the man behind the creations and the art as someone who is very fond of his childhood memories and feels himself as a child-like
spirit, with great excitment for whatever he's creating - at this film's shooting he was filming "One from the Heart" (which is a criminally underrated film of his, one of my favorite
of all time). He doesn't spend any time here to talk about his movies or accomplishments, he's more into talking about what makes him passionate in life, thoughts about real love and how
rare they are in everyone's lives, and there's even a small time for him to dwell about the state of the art in the future. Well, the future is here and I don't think he's totally right
about the artist being this huge figure of importance who has a huge relevance to everyone's lives - it depends on whom we're talking about and the way they interact with their fans or
critics (now with social media, inexistent back in the 1980's, is something that brings everybody closer but the level and quality of interaction or the level of fame and
popularity is truncated, flawed and quite subjective). For the way Coppola describes the artists influence and power I don't see it all that factual, only a handful can have such
control and attention from their audiences.
It's a cool documentary but I'd really love it if Coppola had more time to talk about at least one of his movies or just to present some reasoning behind "One from..." since
most critics were alienated about the experience and thought the man went crazy with his musical. Hellman should've presented a longer piece for us, viewers from the future, to take
a look at one of the greatest film directors and auteurs of all time. 7/10.
