2020: The Year of a Much Needed Edit
Paramount PicturesFeatures editor Jakub Flasz has given me the difficult and challenging task of picking a film that best defines the year or my personal favourite release of 2020.
I don't think I, or anyone for that matter, need to convince the world that 2020 has been challenging. Not only for us cinema lovers has the face of the world changed in only a couple of months, but the day-to-day cycle of ordinary life seems to be no more. Any other year I don't think this set task would be as hard but even braving against my own pessimistic imprint, I am still torn on really what to choose.
The easiest choice would be perhaps Christopher Nolan's Tenet. A film that for all its faults did its earnest to rejuvenate the box office. A film that within the CLAPPER circle is infamous due to my breakdown on-air recording a podcast and utterly decimating my rather positive review on Letterboxd to something a little more cynical and fiery.
I could have picked between a tonne of festival releases that the team and I have been incredibly lucky to have been able to watch and review this year. Rotterdam, Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW, BFI, TIFF, VIFF etc. presented a stunning amount of cinematic features that often left me giddy and momentarily blurred the line between a cinema and my own living room.
That being said, and much to Jakub's dismay, I am going to cheat. My choice is not only left-field, but it probably won't make much sense to a lot of you readers. But I think if you just let me justify myself for a little longer, and please indulge me, you might agree with me.
My choice is Francis Ford Coppola's re-edited third entry into The Godfather franchise, aptly titled Mario Puzo's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Now bear with me, I know what you're thinking, "Jak, that came out almost three decades ago!" Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, but again bear with me. The Godfather series means quite a lot to me. It doesn't have the emotional or personal resonance as The Matrix series, for me personally. Nevertheless, it is a film series that engulfs and discusses family in all its nastiness, honesty and openness, and is the most tragic saga possibly put to screen, yes, more so than Star Wars.
Furthermore, I am picking this specific version for a distinct reason – its message. On the surface, this is a bloody and violent gangster film with death every other second. But look underneath, and Coppola's film says a lot about family. It's about no matter what danger and attacks are looking in from the outside, bond and family remains tight and firm in the face of adversities. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "these are morally ambiguous characters who are murderers, and you're saying to find the humanity in them?". Look, I just don't want to pick Tenet, is that not good enough?
I also think it’s a film that desperately needs a reappraisal. Specifically, the unfair and disgusting treatment that was shown to the young Sofia Coppola, in a performance, that for me, makes this film all the more endearing, honest and tragic. Ultimately, it is a reminder that the nastiness and venom we fire to those who we think can take it, can often lead to horrible experiences and memories. We live in a time now which is challenging for the majority, and we can learn something as a collective to treat with respect and decency people in a predicament that you personally might find beneficial, but others in a circumstance that you know nothing about are trying not to drown in deep water.
In these times and watching this new-but-nowhere-near-as-new-as-advertised, Mario Puzo's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone reminded me that it is not where you're at, the money in your bank account, the Twitter followers or sports car you have. It is that you can never trade that away for time spent with family and taking care of them.
Maybe I am just sentimental, but Coppola's film in its most tragic moments is understanding and having to accept that running out of time is inevitable, and with all the dangers that surround us, it's what we do in that time that makes it worth it. Tiers and lockdowns engulf our lives at the moment. We can't see loved ones, we can't hug them, we can't smell that home feeling on their clothes or visit family members and see them grow up or grow old, but we can tell them we love them, we can show our appreciation and joy in these times, which are a struggle.
2020 has been dire, I don't think it could possibly get worse. 2021 has all the hallmarks to be a year that defines multiple generations for good or for bad, but that's tomorrow and whatever happens, that day is inevitable. It is today that needs to be taken note of, and for others, this time will be horrendous to have to push through, but you will be stronger for it. Just stay close and in contact with those you love. Hold them tighter. Cinema can wait.
