Very aggressively not for me. My sister brought it over because it’s apparently one of her favourite movies, but nothing here works well, the film has little clarity to it, and it’s obvious Coppola’s direction is a big part of the problem. Or rather, I disagreed with his whole vision for this story. There is nothing sadder than wasted potential. 

A situation where I feel bad for disdaining what somebody else likes so much, but you like what you like. 

Some men get through a midlife crisis by getting horny and buying a motorcycle. Others get through it by making a really horny vampire movie disguised as a prestigious motion picture. I genuinely couldn’t tell you if this was campy on purpose or by accident, but it was no doubt creepy to watch a film directed by a 50-some-odd year old man so clearly obsessed with boobs. 

Recently, I’ve been wondering if being great at your art is less about 10,000 hours, and more about showing up every day, ceaselessly. I wonder if films like Dracula happen when their director, at one time, did show up every day, mastered their craft, and then went into a sort of pseudo-retirement for 15 years before trying to make a comeback. Scorsese doesn’t make a lot of duds because he doesn’t take a lot of breaks. 

A master is only a master when they have their practice.

Reply on Letterboxd