One From the Heart
May 2004 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

One From the Heart is a polarizing film. Even Francis Ford Coppola’s most ardent fans have heated arguments over the merits of this movie. One thing is clear: Following a phenomenal seven-year run of quality (The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now), a lot of folks felt let down by One From the Heart. All the war and gangster films hadn’t prepared anyone for Coppola’s fantasy fable of love lost and found.

Coppola has always been a supremely gifted storywriter. His first Academy Award came for writing the story and script for Patton. In fact, he has more acclaim from his cohorts for writing than directing. Coppola has won three Oscars for writing against only one for directing. So what caused him to write an unchallenging story about wandering lovers looking for love in all the wrong places? Coppola answers the question himself in the DVD’s insert: "One From the Heart was the antidote to Apocalypse Now. That film had been so tough, so thoroughly frightening, so strange in its exploration of morality that I wanted very badly to make a film that was its opposite."

One From the Heart is definitely different than his prior four films. Festooned with some of the most floral designs and photography ever committed to film, Coppola went to the rose-colored glasses with a vengeance. Not many viewers understood. But go back four to six years before The Godfather and you’ll see where One From the Heart came from. Both Finian’s Rainbow and You’re a Big Boy Now share a bittersweet fantasy-view of life. You’re a Big Boy Now is especially close to One From the Heart. Both had scores by rock and rollers (John Sebastian and Tom Waits, respectively). Both had male protagonists that are seduced away by a gorgeous entertainer (Elizabeth Hartman and Nastassja Kinski). Of course, You’re a Big Boy Now couldn’t touch Coppola’s color palette in One From the Heart, but Coppola was a lot richer in 1982 than he was in 1966.

He was a lot poorer by 1983. One From the Heart bankrupted his studio and disrupted Coppola’s personal finances. The movie was also the beginning of the end of the critical and financial success he had achieved before. Luckily for us, Coppola is not giving up on his colorful fable.

The new release of One From the Heart on DVD will probably change a lot of minds. Content wise, Coppola gets over six hours, not counting the film itself, to make his case. The extras vary in quality, but the best is having the opportunity to listen in as Coppola tells us his side of the story on the commentary track. I also loved the opportunity to listen to Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle (a musical marriage made in bizarro-land that actually works) sing their sweet songs on an isolated track. Zoetrope has done a stellar job on the video mastering (that’s two in a row after Once Upon a Time in the West) and the 5.1 sound is clear and clean. By the way, don’t worry about the fullscreen aspect ratio -- the film was originally shot at 1.37:1 so 1.33:1 is proper.

One From the Heart has never looked or sounded so good. It’s highly recommended.

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