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Alongside other American filmmakers in the late '60s and early '70s, Coppola was one of the "movie brats" of New Hollywood. One of the most accredited, in a "melting pot" where directors of the caliber of Scorsese, Allen, Roman Polanski, Terrence Malick, De Palma, Spielberg, Altman, and many others who contributed to structurally defining American and global cinema over the past forty years were included. Francis Ford Coppola became a cult director starting in 1972, with the first chapter of one of the most copied and appreciated gangster "sagas" of the genre, "The Godfather." The 1970s were the years when the director of Italian origin was able to condense his inspiration, creating other works that easily stood out, such as "The Conversation" and "The Godfather II" (both from 1974), culminating in another masterpiece of a completely different genre like "Apocalypse Now" (1979). From there on, Coppola's film career saw a decline, though remaining at appreciable levels, especially within a star-spangled industry that was beginning to show the first destructive signs of total servitude to mega-productions and blockbusters, destined to monopolize major production. In recent years, there haven't been any real upheavals, and "Tetro" (2009), while an appreciable work, left no mark.
Chronologically, the last work by the Detroit director was "Twixt" (2011), a feature film that found difficult distribution in Italy, to say the least non-existent. A film defined as "horror," but which transcends all the boundaries of the genre: in Swann Valley, a small town in California, arrives Hall (Val Kilmer), a horror novelist there to promote his latest work. Here he meets Sheriff Bobby (an ever-praiseworthy Bruce Dern) who convinces him to follow some murders that have occurred in the town to take inspiration and write a book with the sheriff Bobby. It will be the start of a "trip" into an indecipherable reality, halfway between a nightmare and the grotesque, a place where Hall's inner ghosts will resurface.
"Twixt" takes its name from a board game that consists of connecting the two sides of the playing field, while simultaneously preventing the opponent from doing so. The film's framework follows this scheme a bit, but it's primarily internal to the protagonist's mind. But beyond a basic story that is not one of the most original ever, some interesting elements should be noted: firstly the cinematography, curated by the unknown Mihai Malaimare and the alternation between color and black and white, with various scenes where only some people and/or objects remain in "color," almost as if to show us an alternate world, a non-existent reality further. To these visual choices adds the usual excellent direction of Coppola, certainly not one who follows the theorem of "invisible direction." But the most interesting aspect is the inclusion in the film of one of the events that most shocked Coppola: the 1986 death of his son in a boating accident. The event is also replayed in the film, where the life lost is that of the writer Hall's daughter. Coppola puts himself in the character of Val Kilmer, who is a man troubled and deeply marked by that loss, needing a "guide" in his quest for truth, in the form of the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe who tells us how in life there is no real creative inspiration, but how everything, even his "The Raven," was the result of "a mathematical problem." It wasn't chance, destiny, or intuition that created Poe's work: how can one not see in this message the last years of Coppola as a film director? Probably Coppola has already given all he could, and "Twixt" is nothing but the externalization of his past and present ghosts.
A complex and multifaceted feature film in its brevity, it needs to be viewed primarily taking into account the messages its author has inserted. The film has flaws in style (the scene of the vampire's arrival with the motorcycle is one example), nor is it without defects, but it is a work that deserves to be seen. To label it simply as horror or thriller would be reductive, especially since Coppola uses the genre to convey something entirely different. In the current cinematic horizon, Coppola still attempts to make films with an auteur intent. The results are no longer what they once were, but we can still forgive Coppola for that.
Chronologically, the last work by the Detroit director was "Twixt" (2011), a feature film that found difficult distribution in Italy, to say the least non-existent. A film defined as "horror," but which transcends all the boundaries of the genre: in Swann Valley, a small town in California, arrives Hall (Val Kilmer), a horror novelist there to promote his latest work. Here he meets Sheriff Bobby (an ever-praiseworthy Bruce Dern) who convinces him to follow some murders that have occurred in the town to take inspiration and write a book with the sheriff Bobby. It will be the start of a "trip" into an indecipherable reality, halfway between a nightmare and the grotesque, a place where Hall's inner ghosts will resurface.
"Twixt" takes its name from a board game that consists of connecting the two sides of the playing field, while simultaneously preventing the opponent from doing so. The film's framework follows this scheme a bit, but it's primarily internal to the protagonist's mind. But beyond a basic story that is not one of the most original ever, some interesting elements should be noted: firstly the cinematography, curated by the unknown Mihai Malaimare and the alternation between color and black and white, with various scenes where only some people and/or objects remain in "color," almost as if to show us an alternate world, a non-existent reality further. To these visual choices adds the usual excellent direction of Coppola, certainly not one who follows the theorem of "invisible direction." But the most interesting aspect is the inclusion in the film of one of the events that most shocked Coppola: the 1986 death of his son in a boating accident. The event is also replayed in the film, where the life lost is that of the writer Hall's daughter. Coppola puts himself in the character of Val Kilmer, who is a man troubled and deeply marked by that loss, needing a "guide" in his quest for truth, in the form of the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe who tells us how in life there is no real creative inspiration, but how everything, even his "The Raven," was the result of "a mathematical problem." It wasn't chance, destiny, or intuition that created Poe's work: how can one not see in this message the last years of Coppola as a film director? Probably Coppola has already given all he could, and "Twixt" is nothing but the externalization of his past and present ghosts.
A complex and multifaceted feature film in its brevity, it needs to be viewed primarily taking into account the messages its author has inserted. The film has flaws in style (the scene of the vampire's arrival with the motorcycle is one example), nor is it without defects, but it is a work that deserves to be seen. To label it simply as horror or thriller would be reductive, especially since Coppola uses the genre to convey something entirely different. In the current cinematic horizon, Coppola still attempts to make films with an auteur intent. The results are no longer what they once were, but we can still forgive Coppola for that.
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