The Godfather Part II

Send us Fan MailMany of us strive to accomplish great things in our lives. A smaller group reach the heights in terms of those dream accomplishments. Then what do you do? How do you follow that when you’ve climbed a steep hill and, perhaps exhausted, look back? Where do you go now? Some, accomplished though they are, will turn away and pursue other, but less vaunted goals. Others will try to replicate the initial success, riffing on it until it’s a pale imitation of what was once beautiful. And the smallest, most exclusive group of all will try to go beyond the initial accomplishment, to top themselves. The air is rarified up there. In business, in sports, in the arts, how many have the vision, determination, and unflagging energy to go above? Few. Few. In film, the list of those who have brought art to the screen, then added to or topped themselves is small. And even bringing art to the screen is hard, seemingly impossible at times --- because making movies is a business. In the days before the confusion of streaming vs. release to theaters and that brouhaha, it used to be a very profitable business. The safest and easiest way to keep it profitable, or what passes for profit in 2023, is to riff on successful or even somewhat successful films. To iterate. To take a film that had a bit of magic and copy and paste it until the magic’s gone and only a shell remains. Or until the movies don’t make money anymore. In other words, sequels. If you’ve listened to the pod, you know I dislike sequels. But they don’t have to be pale imitations. They can be more. It’s just incredibly hard to pull off. Enter one of America’s greatest directors --- Francis Ford Coppola.Website and blog: www.thosewonderfulpeople.comBluesky: @wonderfulpeople.bsky.social