This movie shows just why Apocalypse Now is fundamentally flawed. Ludkily, one of the best documentaries ever came out of that doomed project.
shareI have to agree. Coppolla readily admits it was a disaster, especially when he had to contend with Brando and basically rely on improvisation. I bet not a day passes where he is not thankful but also disbelieving of the success of the film.
shareDoomed project? Did you see the same film I did? Sure, at the time he said it was a disaster, but in actuality it turned out to be one of the greatest success stories in film history. The fact that they were able to go through all that trauma and still emerge with a masterpiece is astounding. Coppola may not like how every aspect of it turned out compared to his original vision, but what he did was truly amazing. In fact, the concessions he was forced to make ultimately may have made the final result better because all the problems he encountered forced him to be more creative. The same thing happened with Lucas on Star Wars. If he had all the time and money he wanted that movie wouldn't have turned out nearly as good as it did.
Blood has no nationality.
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"Coppola may not like how every aspect of it turned out compared to his original vision, but what he did was truly amazing".
And, for me, to witness it was far more interesting and exhilarating than the end product. In other words my personal opinion is Hearts of Darkness is actually greater than Apocalypse Now.
Heh--I was thinking the same thing. I'm honestly not a big fan of Apocalypse Now (my favorite Coppola movie is Tucker, so maybe I'm just insane). But I *LOVE* this documentary. Reminds me of a few projects I've worked on. :)
shareI love "Tucker" too, but I actually think "One From the Heart" may be my favorite Coppola film. Regardless, I think this documentary may be slightly better than "Apocalypse Now," because the story of the filmmaking is a lot more compelling than the story that "Apocalypse Now" ultimately told.
shareAbsolutely agree. Apocalypse Now works better as a concept than as an interesting film, though I'm not really into war films (I think the best one I've ever seen is COMBAT SHOCK, and 80% of it takes place in New York...). I mean, I love Casualties of War and Platoon and Full Metal Jacket and all the usual suspects of classic war films, and even have a certain fondness for Apocalypse, I just find that it hasn't aged well, is overlong, is a bit of a mess, and is quite directionless.
...which is why it's PERFECT for a documentary!
I mean, the actual concept/process/filming reveals so much more, and is WAY more exhilerating, than the film itself ever could be. Because this is reality. "I swallowed a bug" is a lot more interesting than "THE HORROR! THE HORROR!"
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Shuji Terayama forever.
I mean, the actual concept/process/filming reveals so much more, and is WAY more exhilerating, than the film itself ever could be. Because this is reality. "I swallowed a bug" is a lot more interesting than "THE HORROR! THE HORROR!"
To top things off, there´s this quite ridiculously pretentious voiceover by Coppola´s woman who never missed a chance to try and remind us just how dramatic everything on and around the set was, even though she was constantly contradicted by the images accompanying & surrounding her faux-poetic blather. Always interesting to see the behind-the-scenes footage of one´s favourite movies, but as a standalone documentary, this one don´t come close to living up to its incomprehensibly elevated reputation.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I still prefer the movie, but the documentary is a fascinating insight on how Coppola somehow completed this picture. I'm surprised he didn't go insane after finishing Apocalypse Now.
"I think we've out-sophisticated ourselves out of some of the pleasures of movies."
Love both the film and the doc. But slightly off topic, anyone here a gamer? If so, the video game Spec Ops: The Line is, in my opinion, the best version of this story. It's Apocolypse Now/Heart of Darkness but modern day in a destroyed Dubai. The way they executes the psychology and horror is so masterfully done.
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