Zachs Favorite Films: Being a huge film nerd, I have written a lot about the movies that I love. Ive compiled a list of my favorite ones ever and everyday Ill share the next one on the list, with an essay or a blurb I wrote about it. If you havent yet seen the films I talk about here, I highly recommend that you do so. Keep in mind, although these essays are numbered, they are not in any real order. #20: The Godfather Part II (1974) Lets talk about the greatest performance of all-time. Lets talk about Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II. Why do I love film? Theres are a million different ways I can answer that but the most honest way being that I live to communicate with the art form. You dont choose the cinema, the cinema chooses you. I relish empathy, pathos, and things transcendental. I love being moved and I love to be haunted. In The Godfather Part II, I am all of those things simultaneously. Al Pacinos performance is the reason I love film. Pacinos portrayal of Michael Corleone is the reason I will always believe that magic exists. Pacinos performance is fascinating. I have never seen a more disciplined portrait of a troubled and heartless man than the one he painted in The Godfather Part II. It is a flawless portrayal. That quiet calculation, that bitter chill. The frigid professionalism. The outburst. The breakdown and collapse. All under complete control and strictly regimented by Pacino. An uncanny talent. These are acting acrobatics. He is giving it his all and it appears so natural, but never truly lifelike, right? That would go against the man who Michael Corleone became. This is the greatest performance ever in the history of film. It will never be beat. Pacino fully understood exactly who Michael Corleone was. He seems to have known him inside and out. He communicates emotions and provokes a pathos so authentic that what he accomplishes with the character is out of this world and absolutely one of a kind. He has conquered the impossible. It is the most complex performance I have ever seen and its one that captivates not by nature but by command. Pacino demonstrates legitimate pathos. A legitimate pathos channeled through a legitimate monster. It is an unapologetically pure portrayal, completely and utterly pure. Of empathy and concord, Pacino was masterful. He is so guarded here and so precise. His immediate refusal to grant you the permission to feel for him is the definition of courage in acting. To play a character who doesnt want to be the focus of the films need for pathos or pity, a character who rejects the concept of being emotionally available to the audience. A character whos cold as ice, hard as stone, and already dead. Doing it is one thing but doing it so well is something entirely different. Its bravery on film. Its revealing. Its like Michael already lost his spirit. The Godfather Part II is the story of what happened after his spirit was forfeited. The Godfather Part II is about how his heart turned black. The tenderness is gone. He has been asked to choose and he has made his decision. His heart will be forever black for what he feels obligated to do. And you can feel every moment of it. You can physically feel the shade of his heart getting darker. You can feel Michael losing both color and humanity. It is then that you can feel for him. You can feel for his lack of feeling. It is an extraordinary expression of loss. When he enters the screen, you can sense the chill becoming more and more permanent. He has entered the realm of the irreversible. His black heart is a part of him by the end of the film and it will never be altered or changed. Michael Corleone will never be saved. Throughout The Godfather Part II, Michael is depicted as a very lonely and careful king. He is all alone and he cant trust anyone. Sadly, those who he still trusts begrudgingly will eventually go on to betray him, legitimizing his concerns. Michael feels like both a victim and a monster. You can tell that he shares both vengeance and shame. He is tested and he stays contained, in control. An outburst or two here and there are like miniature explosions and they pack more heat than dynamite. His occasional lapse of concentration over his self control are short lived. But these screams are alive and they serve to remind us that there is a person under that stone exterior. That behind the monsters mask is another one. Pacino smartly portrays Michael as confused and enraged. He makes him out to be a man who is trying very hard to be intelligent, reasonable, and calm. Michael is a vengeful man and a loveless one. This was not the life he wanted but he was obligated to accept it. He demonstrates a strict adherence to the rules of business. He is silently dangerous and cruel. He is powerful and calculating, cold and distant. Contained. Under control. At war with his own family while he should be locked in battle with himself. Yes. The most incredible performance ever. I watch Pacino in this film and I can hardly believe that someone could really be that good. And it is acting in its most classical definition. A prime example of the character study. Mystical, magical, and ethereal. Perfection in motion. One of the most spectacular things that celluloid ever captured is Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II. A performance that reminds you that film is an art form and that actors are the messengers of the art itself. There are other outstanding performances in The Godfather Part II, the most noteworthy being the great John Cazale as Michaels unfortunately dim older brother Fredo. Cazale was one the best, Im far from alone in wishing that he had been well enough to do more films. The few parts he had have proven to be nothing if not legendary and emblematic. And as Fredo he is fearless. Fredos shame and desperation, and emasculation, are all communicated by Cazale coherently and powerfully. And some dude named Robert De Niro was also in it. :) De Niro portrayed a young Don Vito Corleone. The film is ambitious in structure in that it tells two separate stories, one of social triumph and one of moral devastation. Vitos is the one about triumph. Set in the early 1900s, De Niro plays a cunning and honorable Vito. Still cold and calculating, but he is a man you can root for. You can sometimes see similarities in business tactics between Vito and his son Michael. But more often than not, you can see that what Vito found most important in life means absolutely nothing to his son. That the foundation his legacy and business was founded on can no longer be counted on. That his most tender son will go on to destroy it. De Niro is great here. A quiet performance and a unique part of his repertoire. A very well crafted and honed character. Much like Pacino, De Niro shows great discipline when portraying Vito. Great discipline and patience. Unlike Pacino, whos brief manic outbursts shed the most light on the person inside, De Niro relies upon the actions of Vito to demonstrate truth and control. A fabulous performance, reserved and dominating. Gordon Willis. You just cant write an essay about The Godfather Part II without talking about Gordon Willis. That would be akin to blasphemy. Willis was the director of photography on The Godfather Part II and it was some of the best photography I have ever seen. So well done, the lighting was so perfect, so divine. He nailed the atmosphere, he made it radiate. Some shots look so magnificent that youd swear you were dreaming. A testament to the power of lighting. A maestro of atmosphere and a master of the lens, Gordon Willis is just as essential to The Godfather legacy as anyone else. Director Francis Ford Coppola in the 70s was really somethin else. So many masterpieces in such a short amount of time, its hard comprehending the full extent of his genius run. The pacing of The Godfather Part II is second to none, its style is all its own. Theres a reason why The Godfather Parts I and II look so unlike any other film youve ever seen. Its because Coppolas vision was original, unique, and perfectly captured. Those films are almost untouchable. They simply have the best everything. They are simply immaculate. They are films of an almost mythical realm. They are the reason the art form can thrive in a business climate. They are absolutely powerful. Timeless relics of a forgotten promise. Like sage, Coppola burned. Before I wrap this up I would like to take this opportunity to talk about Robert Duvall. As Tom Hagan, consigliere to the Corleone family, he supplies the film with enough soul to fuel a jet plane. In a film populated with soulless characters, Duvalls Tom Hagan really stands out as a focal point for humanity. A very warm performance, usually opposite Pacinos vacuously cold and controlled tour de force. A friendly presence. A thankless portrayal that should be admired for its comfort and compassion. In closing, The Godfather Part II holds a very special place in my heart. I hold it near and dear. A lot of people wonder if The Godfather Part II is a film that lives up to the hype. I say of course it does, it crushes it. I have a different question, does the hype live up to the film? This film is so moving and so powerful that it has earned its enormous reputation. Its a film that can handle the accolade. Its a film that waits. It wants to be sought after. It wants to be examined. And its an easy film to fall in love with. I know I did. The most perfect film.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 23:40:51 +0000
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