Friday 22 October 2010

The Conversation - A Review

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola


Year: 1974
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Run Time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 12 for moderate violence and horror

Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford

The Review:

Francis Ford Coppola is a man who understands how to make intense and engaging films. Highlights from his career include: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III (regardless of whether you think it’s good or not, it’s still an achievement), Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Conversation is one of his forgotten gems, overshadowed by the second instalment in the Godfather Trilogy, which beat it to victory in awards season.
                
That’s the clearest example you can get of just how talented Coppola is. He directed and released two films in the same year, which both became contenders for the most prestigious awards in Hollywood. The man is a cinematic genius, and it’s such a shame that the second Godfather film overshadows it so totally.
                
The Conversation tells the story of Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a professional eavesdropper, whose business day revolves around listening in on other people’s conversations and then splicing together multiple recordings to create the best sound possible, before trading it in for cash with whichever sleazy client he’s become attached to this week. The film follows one such job, and the titular conversation is one that starts Harry on the track to questioning his place in the world and the morality of his business.
                
The script by Coppola is, quite simply, the best screenplay the man has penned; it’s a tour de force of emotion and power that claws the audience back every time they find themselves growing slack in terms of interest. The character of Harry is wonderfully portrayed as a man who finds little joy in life outside of his career; his apartment is bare, lacking any possessions bar a saxophone and collection of jazz records. He doesn’t have friends, at least not ones who he doesn’t associate with on a professional level, and he’s extremely paranoid, because he understands the simplicity and control that comes from listening in on conversations.
                
Hackman brings the script to life throughout, turning in one of his most underappreciated performances. His Harry Caul is an enigmatic figure; the only joy he gleans in the entire film is from showing how good he is at what he does. It’s the supporting cast that accompanies Hackman throughout the proceedings that lend even more integrity to the picture. John Cazale as Harry’s co-worker, Stan, is fantastically realised as the bumbling, but loyal sidekick; he doesn’t mean to be so incompetent, but Cazale has a way of making he feel as such. Despite this the character shines with a certain degree of charm throughout. An appearance by a young Harrison Ford as something of an antagonist is a wonderful role to behold, particularly when you consider that his biggest roles have been as heroes over the years.
                
For a film that had to contend with the monumental epic that was The Godfather Part II, The Conversation feels like a much more personal, powerful piece of filmmaking. In contrast to the more successful film, it is a smaller, more isolated part of cinema canon, but it stands tall as one of the greatest bits of character study and paranoia examination ever filmed.
               
Rating: 10/10

No comments:

Post a Comment