Ever since he first hit it big with "The Godfather" way back in 1972, Francis Ford Coppola has made noises about saying goodbye to Hollywood, taking the money and making small, uncompromising independent films. With the exception of "The Conversation" (1974), that never happened, with Coppola seemingly addicted to big budgets and epic filmmaking, from "The Cotton Club" (1984) through "The Godfather Part 3" (1990) and "Dracula" (1992).
Now age 69, Coppola finally seems to be getting around to it. Having made a bundle on his Napa Valley vineyards — Coppola's Rosso is not a bad bottle to crack open over dinner — he is pouring it back into filmmaking. The director has said in interviews that he can now afford to lose several million dollars on a film every couple of years. Let's hope he's correct, because judging from "Youth Without Youth," his first wine-financed project, losing money seems to be the prognosis.
Adapted from a novel by noted philosopher and author Mircea Eliade, "Youth Without Youth" is an example of what happens when that tightrope walker known as artistic ambition falls into the abyss known as artistic pretension. Portentous, philosophical dialogue is delivered in absurd, ridiculous situations; the mixed Euro-accents of the cast make every single line ring with absolute falsity.