Lots of couples have troubled relationships, few are so lucky to have their woes set to music by Tom Waits. It leads to the dreamy atmosphere of Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 film One from the Heart. It's never been a popular film, certainly not enough to justify its massive budget (a recurrent theme in Coppola's career), but an excellent film if you like Tom Waits and film history.
Waits is joined by Crystal Gayle on vocals and Coppola lets their lyrics play out, accompanied by scenes of Hank (Frederic Forrest) and Frannie (Teri Garr) fighting, reconciling, and sleeping with other people in a deliberately artificial movie version of Las Vegas. This was piano jazz era Tom Waits and the mellow, whiskey lounge vibe of his music pairs smoothly with Crystal Gayle's crystalline vocals.
A lot of people criticised the characters for being too thin. They are kind of archetypes more than characters and I think the film is set in the same universe as the 1941 Thief of Bagdad, a film with which Coppola is obsessed. The artistic artificiality of the film's aesthetic is very similar. There's even an appearance by the All Seeing Eye from The Thief of Bagdad, marvelled over by Nastassja Kinski as a circus girl called Leila. Teri Garr's performance lends a lot of humanity to Frannie but I actually found Kinski's character more intriguing.
While Hank is being unfaithful with Leila, Frannie has a tryst with Ray (Raul Julia), a down on his luck piano player. They have some good moments, too.
Maybe the film is no magnificent epic but it sure put me in a great, mellow mood.
One from the Heart is available on The Criterion Channel until December 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment