Film director Sofia Coppola has had a big task living up to the greatness of her filmmaking father, Francis Ford Coppola. Still, she has released several admirable films, including Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette and Somewhere.
It was Lost in Translation that really set the scene for Coppola’s success, though. The film told of a fading American actor (Bill Murray) who travels to Tokyo to promote a brand of whiskey in the midst of a mid-life crisis and his developing friendship with a young college graduate (Scarlett Johansson).
Back in 2012, Coppola put forth her choices for the ten greatest movies of all time for BFI, so let’s take a look at some of them to get clues as to her most-profound cinematic loves. First up for Coppola is Wong Kar Wai’s romantic drama In the Mood for Love, released in 2000.
It told of a man (played by Tony Leung) and a woman (Maggie Cheung) who come together when their respective spouses begin having an affair with one another and who slowly start to develop romantic feelings of their own.
Coppola could not help but include one of her father’s films in her list, selecting his 1983 drama Rumble Fish. The film is based on S. E. Hinton’s 1975 novel of the same name, and Hinton also co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. It starred Mickey Rourke as a former gang leader who wants to live a quieter life and Matt Dillon as his younger brother, who wants to earn the same notoriety as his older sibling.
Also featured on Coppola’s list is Jane Campion’s The Piano, the 1992 erotic period drama starring Holly Hunt, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neil and Anna Paquin. It told of a Scottish woman who is unable to speak as she travels to a remote location in New Zealand after she has been arranged to be married to a soldier.
It also looks as though Coppola is a fan of Prince too because she makes a somewhat odd selection, including the 1984 film Purple Rain, directed by Albert Magnoli. Prince made his acting debut in the film as ‘The Kid’, a young musician from Minneapolis who dreams of making it big. But it’s a strange choice from Coppola as it is brimming with misogyny.
Coppola’s best-loved film, Lost in Translation, is set in Japan, and the director selects one of Japan’s best-ever filmmaker’s movies in her list, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, released in 1954. It told of a poor village hiring a band of masterless ronin to save their home from bandits.
Check out the complete list below.
Sofia Coppola’s choices for 10 greatest movies of all time:
- In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000)
- A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)
- The Heartbreak Kid (Elaine May, 1972)
- Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)
- The Piano (Jane Campion, 1992)
- La notte (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)
- Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli, 1984)
- Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 1985)
- Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
- Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker, 1976)