Phew, I can’t believe I nearly fell behind before I’d even begun! Just where has January gone? Nevermind, because last night I finally found the time to sit and watch The Godfather. Err, why did no one warn me it was nearly 3 hours long? My attention span struggles with 2! Several tea breaks later…
I’m going to come out and say this now. This review is not going to do the film justice at all. It’s a brilliant film, I know that, and yet there was just too much going on for me to follow. For anyone who hasn’t watched The Godfather (which I guess is no one) follows the struggles of the Corleone family following Don Vito’s decision to give up his position as head of the family. That’s about as descriptive as I can be without getting something wrong.
So, let’s try and assemble a review without making myself look like a twonk. Despite it’s length, and I did feel every minute, every scene counts and there isn’t anything that I think could be left out. It wouldn’t be fair to say I was bored, but I constantly lost track of who everyone was, what family or group they belonged to, and who was being killed and why. That’s no fault of the film though, and I’m sure with a couple more viewings it’ll be clear as day and I can truly appreciate it. Has anyone started watching Game of Thrones without reading the books first and felt completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters? That’s how I felt.
Due to the age of the film, I didn’t think anything could really shock me, but some scenes were actually quite alarming. The horse’s head scene had me cringing a little, and the murder at the toll booth gave me a start, but the event at the restaurant leading to Michael’s need to leave was surprisingly chilling. I was completely on edge, and I might have stopped breathing for a while!
Despite my confusion, I really enjoyed watching The Godfather, and I can’t decide whether I should re-watch it or just move straight onto Part 2. Perhaps I’ll read a write-up by an actual professional and clue myself in first! I hope this isn’t a sign for the rest of my Blind Spot choices, but only time will tell…
So, apologies for this rather brief review, but I promise to re-visit it sometime in the near future, with a clearer head on my shoulders. Bring on February’s Blind Spot! Wait...sweet JESUS it’s 195 minutes long! What have I gotten myself into?!
I've actually seen Game of Thrones and without reading the books I didn't have much difficulty keeping track of all the characters. That show would never have worked as a movie, or even a series of movies. By making it a TV series, the writers are able to space out the introductions of major characters and take their time establishing the ones that have already been introduced. Once the it really gets going and the cast starts to become huge the writers are able to get around the problem by shifting the focus to different groups of characters each episode. As a movie they would have been crammed all together into one big jumbled mess.
ReplyDeleteI'll actually agree that I had the same confusions with regards to The Godfather. I could never keep track of who's who or what family they belonged to or why, there was just so much going on at once that it was easy to get lost. On a technical and stylistic level, The Godfather is a great movie, with the brilliant period detail and incredible acting, but I never could get into the overly convoluted narrative. Personally, I would recommend Goodfellas as a far better gangster film (it's a lot more straight forward, too).
I should also warn you that if you thouht The Godfather was confusing, you might want to avoid the sequel. The Godfather Part II is almost twice as long as its predecessor and has even more things happening. I only managed to get through the first half before I was too confused to go on.
The GoT comparison was more from friends of mine constantly asking who's who as they hadn't read the books and couldn't keep up :)
DeleteI'm glad that I'm not the only one who struggled with The Godfather though, it's definitely a relief!
Goodfellas is on our Blind Spot list too so I'm really looking forward to watching that later this year!
- Allie
I honestly think I opened my review of this film on Amazon the same way..."this won't do the film any justice..." but your review is great, and I'm glad that you finally saw this film. It's a classic that everyone should see!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm so glad it's not just me! Hopefully I can actually expand on it one day, but I'm definitely glad I watched it :)
Delete- Allie
Glad that you finally got to see this. It can be a bit much to keep up with. Though Part II is longer it goes by quicker due to better pacing. I actually find it more straight forward, though familiarity with the characters probably helps. I'll not say anything else until you get to it.
ReplyDeleteWhy are these films so long! I honestly don't have the mental capacity to cope with them, haha!
DeleteI really do want to see Part II at some point though.
- Allie
I hope you do. If it helps, its my personal #1 movie of all time. But I'm a fiend for gangster flicks, so take that for whatever you think it's worth.
DeleteI never quite watched The Godfather in its entirety, I always lost somewhere between the movie... mostly due to confusion and boredom, but after reading your post, I'm planning to watch this once more. I'll see what I can get later.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, girl!
I think what worked for me was several tea breaks, and to half watch my fiance playing GTAV online! I'm glad I watched it though, it really was a good film :)
Delete- Allie
The Godfather is definitely hard to grasp even after my dozen viewings because it is just so layered and lacks a lot of exposition (which makes it great). I always found Part II even more complex, but I kept going back to both. I watched as a teenager, repeatedly, so I eventually got there. It's so worth it to really try to get into these movies. They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad the comments have all been very similar on this one and it's not just that I'm not smart enough to understand the film! I'll have to give this a re-watch soon and then move on to Part 2 :)
Delete- Allie