Movieposting: The Godfather

[teslac0ils]

Ok, re-starting this with the most "what do you mean you haven't seen it??" movie on my entire list.

Thoughts under the cut:
When I was 17, I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa in person. It was… fine. I did not have a particularly transcendent moment seeing it. Maybe it's because portraits have never been an art form that speaks to me much. Maybe it was the venue, and the fact that I heavily dislike packed crowds and that was something of a distraction from the painting’s majesty. I've always felt that part of the reason was that the Mona Lisa is probably the most famous piece of art in existence, and there's just nothing in this world that can actually live up to that kind of hype for everyone, especially when taste in art is such a subjective thing.

So, about half an hour into this film, I got the impression it really wasn't my thing. I thought it would be another Mona Lisa for me. I would make the best of this experience, and appreciate the craftsmanship and try to see it for what everyone else saw in it.

I didn't consider the fact that looking at the Mona Lisa only takes a few minutes. Not 3 hours.

I kept finding myself getting antsy about the runtime of this film, because I was NOT having a good time. Please understand, I don't want to be a contrarian, I get no joy out of having the unpopular opinion (my tastes just happen to go that way often), and most of all, if I'm in for a 3 hour movie, I WANT to enjoy those 3 hours. I do not want to be the goddamn Family Guy meme. About an hour into this one, though, I got this sinking feeling that I wasn't just being underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa, I actually found it kind of ugly.

Before continuing with my overall opinion I do want to acknowledge what I enjoyed about the film. One, I totally see why Vito Corleone is one of the most iconic characters in all of film. Excellent performance that commanded my attention even though he wasn't directly present for most of the more exciting action of the film. Second, the soundtrack- yes, I'm totally on board with the hype on that too. Even when I failed to connect with the movie, I still felt the emotion in the music!

My gut reaction to this film was: I feel nothing, I'm bored, I AM BORED, I am a child with ADHD sitting through a dry history class lecture on the Medici family and they are NOT anywhere near my special interest. I kept asking myself: why do I care about these people? Why do I care about this family and their conflicts? I like to think of myself as someone who can enjoy different genres for their merits- I can appreciate a romance story where the plot is slow and favors the characters’ emotions, and I can appreciate an action story that focuses on excitement and spectacle rather than delving deep into the characters. The Godfather did not give me any feature I like from any genre. A lot of time is spent with these characters, but I never really connected with them. Yet, the tense and exciting moments were too brief and far between for it to be an exciting movie either.

The centerpiece of my bad watching experience was the entire character of Michael Corleone. He, above all, did nothing for me as a protagonist. He barely felt like a protagonist to me. For most of the move I feel like he's just there for all of the shit happening to him… and by the end I'm supposed to buy him as some kind of mastermind and worthy new head of the family and, I don't know, it just didn't feel earned to me.

After watching, I was truly upset at how little I felt. This is considered one of the best movies! Is this why I don't watch so many movies? Is it The Godfather’s fault that a lot of long movies drag in a way where I have trouble sitting through them? Maybe I just don't like movies? Maybe I made a mistake saying I was going to watch so many movies… maybe I should just re-watch The Room again because there is no hope for me to enjoy Quality Cinema…

I'm glad I talked to my wife after I watched this. After laughing at my pain for a bit she reminded me that art is subjective and there's no perfect movie. Also that I never like political drama, stories about royal family politics, etc., so of course I didn't like The Godfather, no matter how good it is, since it is essentially the same type of story. It's fine. I'm fine.

 

Comments

[yuuago]

Also that I never like political drama, stories about royal family politics, etc., so of course I didn't like The Godfather, no matter how good it is, since it is essentially the same type of story

Yyyyep. If that's you, then yeah, your wife's totally right. That's the type of story it is! It's fine that you don't like it! Oh well. :P

[teslac0ils]

Ngl I'm still in the process of making peace with this, just because it's The Movie. How could I not like The Movie Of All Time?? You're right though, it is what it is, and I just don't happen to like what it is... it's fine. If someone offers me a shot of $2000 tequila I am not going to enjoy it even as much as a $3 piss beer because I have never liked tequila, no level of quality is changing that.