The Godfather

The Godfather is one of the populist choices for the greatest film of all time, well populist with any taste that is, and well that's a fair enough assessment. The Godfather has been always a film I've been slightly hesitant to heap that praise, not because it doesn't really deserve it, but rather because there simply are other great films. The Godfather though in unequivocally a great film anyways, even if I don't quite adhere to the overriding sentiment that above and beyond as these films go. The Godfather still stands in itself, forgetting any other factors, as an amazing achievement. The Godfather realizes the richness of its source material and bests it through Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant adaptation in just about every possible sense. Rather than playing into the tropes of the traditional crime film it reinvented them through a revision to examine it through a far more intimate portrait of this crime family that is more important to the film than the crimes they commit. Coppola has the appreciation for this family dynamic that goes beyond even the immediate family even within the sort warmth in the uncle figures of the Caporegimes. Coppola furthers this in crafting such a vivid sense of the Italian heritage and traditions both in the family, even in the food, but also in the criminal world in which they exist. The sheer vibrancy of the world is remarkable and the popularity of the film could perhaps be partially attached with this as there is even a certain comfort in this despite the violent nature of the story. That vibrancy is beyond atmosphere though coming within every character making actually future archetypes in a way, though with fully realized three dimensional characters. There being the wise don father Vito, the hotheaded Sonny, the very coolheaded Tom, the foolish Fredo, and Michael, the lead who begins as the unassuming reluctant hero to become technically a cold cutthroat villain though with the mindset that everything he's doing he's doing for his family. Where the film takes the characters is as a compelling through that complexity offering the crime world with their own double crosses and motivations, with fascinating figures even if for but a scene in some circumstances. The film seems to be essentially a blue print for a "great film" as it does everything. Brilliant structure, acting, production design, score, costumes, characters, you name it pretty much has it in this respect. This is never an exercise in this either as much as Coppola is efficiency in this his work was daring, whether it is his flawless execution of the non-violent, mostly, wedding sequence, or the very violent baptism scene Coppola strove for a truly cinematic and dynamic storytelling methods. Even as much as it isn't one of my personal favorites as a great film, it is a great film, and anyone who tells you otherwise will only be quoting Family Guy.
5/5

Cabaret

Cabaret may be to many the film that nearly beat the Godfather for best picture, after all the film won more Oscars overall including best director for Bob Fosse. This film though is not some simple musical adaptation from the stage as Fosse, who despite coming from the stage himself as a choreographer and director, strives to adapt the stage musical into a truly cinematic work. Well for this non-fan of musicals, I will say this is quite a success. Fosse cuts the flab, often a problem in the adaptation, by limiting songs to only where they make sense. Those scenes tend to have an even greater impact as the songs never feel there for the sake of it, but relate far more directly to themes also realized outside the club. There is only a single song we see outside of the club, where singing comes naturally in performances, and that is the anthem "Tomorrow Belongs to Me". That scene stands as one of the most single brilliant pieces of direction in the 70's as it leads into the song of seeming of just beauty and pride, to reveal it to be this fervent anthem for Nazism. The film excels in keeping that underlying current of dread as related to the Nazis even as it reveals purposefully in the excess of our main characters. What it carefully does though is never becomes caricature giving life to everyone even granting sympathy to Liza Minelli's Sally Bowles, partially because of her striking performance, but also because Fosse never demonizes the character despite her nature. He instead captures this sense of the people on the edge some hopeful, yet tragically so, in the pure relationship of the Jewish couple, then the more lustful examination of the writer, the count, and Sally who seem to shy away when any substance seems to be found in their relationships. It's a great film and it is interesting that a man who came from the stage knew so clearly that a dynamic adaptations needs liberties, and changes to become truly cinematic.
5/5