“I do think there is a “Silly girl, this is a man’s game,” and “But what good handwriting you have!” treatment of Sofia’s films that I do not like one bit. Or, on the flip side, people are so eager to give credit to a female director that they do not stand her films up to critical attention.”
the second point is far more relevant than the first imo, although they are probably connected. having said that, Marie Antoinette was slagged by critics wasn’t it?
as for chris coppola, nobody talks about him precisely because he isa nobody!!! ;-)
“Marie Antoinette was slagged by critics wasn’t it?”
By French critics, yes it was (very undeservedly imo) booed at Cannes. Outside of that it received generally positive reviews.
I hate nepotism. Should I resent artists for getting a leg up by being the children of famous people? On one hand, nobody gives Jean Renoir any grief over his father being Pierre-Auguste. But, on the other, I hate the idea of landed aristocracies when it comes to the arts (artistocracies?) and in life in general. I like the idea of people getting by on their own merit. In the end, I guess it depends on the work. If you judge it as having merit than the nepotism seem justified.
Why Sofia gets the brunt of the criticism probably has to do with her films being so much more successful than her brother’s (CQ has its defenders but nobody really saw it) or cousin’s (Deadfall is known today as being Nic’s worst pre-Wicker Man embarrassment). Also, I guess it’s easy to interpret her films as being thinly veiled portraits of her own spoiled upbringing – a kind of dilettantism. It probably didn’t help her as well that we all got to know her from her turn in the Godfather III, a performance that may have ruined the film for me if not already ruined for a variety of other reasons.
coppola family tree: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppola_family_tree
Nepotism, shmepotism. I don’t think anybody’d care who Sofia Coppola’s father was if her films weren’t such pieces of shit.
PolarisDiB
I’m making this a unique thread. I don’t want the Director’s Cup round to be full of this when the round should be about William Wyler and Francis.
It started with Ari saying:
“My bias against Coppola has nothing to do with what he did with the Godfathers and Apocalypse (or even the Conversation), but what he did after. But I acknowledge my bias. I am a staunch anti-Coppolite. I don’t like Francis and I don’t like his entire over-entitled progeny. I hate his daughter’s over-decorated spoiled princess films or that over-praised whiny mediocrity Lost in Translation. Roman’s CQ was an even worse of shit. Nic Cage has heaps of talent but suffers the same fate as his uncle – unrestrained talent misspent in decadence and ego. I can’t stand Jason Schwartzman’s smug preening schtick either. Or the other Coppola in that shitty band Rooney. Or Christopher Coppola’s atrocious Deadfall. And, yeah, Francis’ wine is overpriced.”
It actually started before that with “Why the Coppola hate? Is it because he’s mainstream?” style dialog, but this is a good launching off point for the separate discussion.
I responded with,
“I don’t have the same opinion on every point of this (I don’t mind the occassional Cage and I enjoy Schwartzman’s schtick), but this is still great. It paints the picture of the Coppola family as an entitled old-money institution surrounding the patriarch Francis Ford, all of whom are in the arts because they were born into it.”
“I think Sofia gets the worst of it, and maybe that has something to do with her gender, which is sad. However, from her I do get this general “Ugh, why are people so conformist?!” attitude that is easily answered with, “Because normally they are not born into a rich and independent family that funds your “independent” movies.”
Dimitris responded with,
“Actually, Sofia is the second best asset of the Coppola Empire, whoever said anything about gender bias????”
“That doesn’t say much of course, Sofia’s best is Coppola’s mediocrity.”
Ari responded with,
“Yes, I think the fact that a daughter gets her in from her father is probably looked at differently than when sons get their in from their parents. (Not to mention all the BS about Spike Jonze shadow directing her films). Personally, I hate her films on their own merits and don’t view her any differently than I do someone like, say, Jason Reitman.
And finally, here is my latest response:
Sofia gets a lot of criticism for being Daddy’s Girl. She also gets a lot of praise for it, too. After all, that is sort of the brunt of my argument, that her non-conformity would conform a little closer to real life concerns if she had a regular life, but unfortunately for her, despite the importance of her themes her non-conformity comes from privilege (and yes, I do see that in her films, such as when Scarlett Johanssen has her little quips about intelligence in Lost in Translation that just reeks of “I don’t judge people I’m not like that!” dialogs of my youth). However, I do not see Chris Coppola or Roman Coppola getting the same criticism (unless the family as a whole gets a paragraph like Ari’s), and of course Cage and Schwartzman get a little more movement because of their names.
I do think there is a “Silly girl, this is a man’s game,” and “But what good handwriting you have!” treatment of Sofia’s films that I do not like one bit. Or, on the flip side, people are so eager to give credit to a female director that they do not stand her films up to critical attention.
—PolarisDiB