Tommy Comings

Let the old man cook! Over an illustrious career that has delivered some of the most revered, culture-defining, and purely enjoyable film of all times, FFC has earned the right to get a little loose and indulge his bizarre social fantasies in this highly-watchable and entertaining fable. While there were inconsistencies in some of the technical qualities — rushed pacing/editing, strange lighting choices ect — the essence of the film shines through, at once hopeful, damning, goofy and epic. Coppola employed many heavyweight actors to the best of their abilities (honorable mention goes to Jon Voight for his lusty, unhinged yet canny performance as the richest man in New Rome) and crafted a wild, indulgent and dramatic vision of an alternate future which echoes our own, and more importantly echoes his own ideals and fears. The use of loose multi-panel montage combined with austere shots of a city half in ruin and half in rebirth underscores the anxieties and contradictions of our own age, leave it to a legacy auteur to give us one last spank on the bottom before he fades from the public eye.