By Stephane Delorme, Phaidon Press, $9.95, 105 pages

10If you are looking for a book about the life and times of Francis Ford Coppola, this is not the book for you. Although author Stephane Delorme includes biographical information and fascinating photographs of Coppola with film stars on his sets, the book reads more like a film student’s dissertation. Masters of Cinema: Francis Ford Coppola would be most helpful to film students using it as a resource or to those studying the filmography of his work. Delorme provides information about Coppola’s work habits and film style. That information is crucial to the education of film students. For example, a film by Coppola always has one theme and one visual idea. Other “rules” includes a certain style unique to him, a technique of filming only he uses, and the fact that there is always a subject and destination in his films. Non-academics might be interested in knowing this but this particular book is not organized in a way to find the information easily. So unless you collect books about Coppola, this book is best suited for a film student’s library.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Franklin