O Fundo do Coração

The world, it seemed, was not ready for Hollywood's reinvention of the movie musical in 1981/1982---Steve Martin's Pennies from Heaven was a huge flop and a few months later, Francis Coppola brought One from the Heart out despite supposed urges from friends and business partners to shelve it. The film is not a musical in that its stars break out into song (and they don't, except of course for Frederick Forest's brief attempt at song during the airport scene). Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle-two voices that should not work together in song, but do-supply the soundtrack and their singing can be heard during a good portion of the running time. Coppola's decision to shoot the movie entirely on his studio instead of going to Vegas, I thought, paid off. Vegas does have a dream-like, surreal quality and he ups the ante by recreating it on his lot, thereby allowing characters to have scenes intimately close to some of the neon signs. Forest's "escape" to the desert with Natassja Kinski has an even dreamier quality, with the remnants of old neon signs buried in the desert. I thought the set direction was incredible and should have won an Academy Award. This is one of those movies that's "one time is enough" for me. The actors were okay, but only Raul Julia had fireworks. Teri Garr was adorable in her late '70s and early '80s films, but I always found her to be almost "too cute" for serious roles. She had (and still has, to a degree) a Goldie Hawn quality that's great in movies like Tootsie and Young Frankenstein, but a little unbelievable in serious movies like this and the underrated First Born. I thought Forest was not that credible either as a "ladies man" who could seduce Kinski like that. But maybe that was the whole point--the leads are "everyday people," not the beautiful people of the classic MGM musicals. But this movie's influence on later films, Moulin Rouge and Chicago in particular, cannot be denied. It is worth a look, if only to see what the "fuss" was about back in 1982.

Yes, this movie did absolutely horrible in theaters when it was released in 1982. I saw it about 1984 on disk (CED) and was surprised. Along with the weird lighting (it was filmed on a HUGE sound stage) and strange character reactions....something in this move touched me deeply. Along with all of it I found a kernal....a morsel......some real gem that made this otherwise trite movie quite rich. Rich enough I saw the movie again....and am considering purchase of a copy.

Apparently I am one of the 5% who actually LIKED the movie....who didn't demand their ticket money back.

We DO exist, you know....

I have never been in the United States, least of all in New York. But through some directors' works I have built up an image of the city that never sleeps that's made of jazz, petty crooks and gangsters, Godard-lovers, intellectual wanna-be socialite... For all I know, New York is what can be seen through the eyes of Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese... and Francis Ford Coppola.

I would pretty much compare ONE FROM THE HEART to Allen's MANHATTAN, in the sense that both are new-yorkers visions of romance and beauty, filtered through a broadway theatrical and glamorous sensibility. This film, however, unlike MANHATTAN, isn't about New York. It's about spining through the spotlights of a city that parties all night long (cabarets, jazz, dance and magical flirts), only to realize that in the end, it's going to be your simple significant other waiting for you in the backstage.

The staging of the whole movie helps a lot, in the sense that's it's all filmed in studio. Magical skies and dawns that make it easy to pass from a store-window directly to a sunset in Bora-Bora; lust and life and music in what I would consider the last great musical. Every once in a while, Coppola gives us a glimpse of his more passionate side. This would then be the sunny side of the melancholic DRACULA.

Add to the magical staging the nightly cabaret-like musical score by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle and one can't help but be amazed with it all. And I thought I was surprised by Woody Allen's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU.

If this is the way new-yorkers see life, that's the city I want to live in.

I have to start by saying that I've had this film on videotape for so long and have seen it so many times that I believe the tape must be damaged by now. I'm a huge fan of Francis Ford Coppola's films, not only his "Godfather" films, but also what he has produced in the 80's and 90's. "One from the Heart" stands as one of most beautiful and poetic art pieces I've seen, ever. He created an entire world on set, something that resembles Vegas, but that I feel, extends a bit beyond that, someplace where love does exist (and Frederic Forrest and Terri Garr are great, because they do represent the average man and woman that want to surpass their mediocrity and have the dream, represented by the late Raul Julia and the gorgeous Nastassja Kinski). The beautiful score by Tom Waits, and the entire dance acts are so wonderfully entwined, that it's impossible not to feel the taste of real cinema there. The cinematography is stunning and I can only sum this up by saying that this film is an incredible experience to watch. Please do so.

"One from the Heart" is the story of two kindred spirits that have to get through a separation just to find out that they belong to each other. I'm sure that many of you have had similar experiences, don't you? It is also a celebration of the Broadway performances, and of the old school cinema, when everything was hand-made. In the background we hear the voices of Tom Waits and Cristal Gayle singing and narrating what we're watching in the screen (or what we're going to watch...) on a jazz or a blues beat.

They made a huge work of edition here and the photography is just awesome (it's no surprise, anyway, for it was Vicente Storaro the one who photographed it).

As for the cast, Terri Garr's performance is just awesome and she looks so sexy (too bad she wasted her talent in second rate comedies), and the eyes of Nastassja Kinski are the most beautiful you'll ever see.

Viva Las Vegas!!! My rate: 7/10