Most accomplished US film

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 1999)

This epic of epics, in my wholehearted view, remains to this day America's most accomplished feature film. Even without understanding the dialogue's nuances or the storyline's elaborate twists, one is still inexorably drawn to the movie, as I found myself to be since the earliest time. What makes it so enormously appealing and deeply satisfying is Copolla's masterful direction. Every frame is constructed in such an ingenious manner, that if taken out of context and hung up on a wall as a painting, it would take up another value, becoming as work of art in and of itself. Indeed, it is tempting to compare the dark indoor compositions (the mise-en-scenes' arrangement especially) to Rembrandt and other Dutch masters, without exaggeration. The staging of each scene is handled with the kind of technical and spiritual balance advocated only in Eastern religions: no extreme close-ups, no jittery or stale camera movements. On a visual level, "The Godfather" possesses an ethereal beauty regardless of content. The picture's other aspects reveal an astounding proximity to irrefutable perfection: an immortal original score with at least three distinguished motifs; the superlative acting by all of the Corleone Mafia clan and their enemies; the compelling plot which swiftly unfolds before us through, among other things, the most riveting montage since "Battleship Potemkin", no less. Even its minute details are widely quoted today: what comes most easily to mind is the shot-by-shot parody of Brando's botched assassination in '99's "Analyze This", and the more obscure slang term : "to pull a Fredo", coined in "Swingers" (one of the 90's hippest comedies). Just to decipher the later (decidedly dirty) reference should be a good excuse to watch "The Godfather" yet again.