Coppola followed Apocalypse Now with this bitter-sweet romance set in Las Vegas but filmed entirely on lavish sets in the director’s own Zoetrope Studios. One from the Heart harks back to the classic Hollywood musicals and to Coppola’s own Finian’s Rainbow as it explores the illusions of romance and the American Dream. Frederick Forrest and Teri Garr play the lovers who are perversely drawn into argument on their fifth anniversary (Independence Day, naturally). Itchy for a better life beyond their mundane existence, each is looking for their own Oz over a neon rainbow before awakening to the truth that lies behind their illusions. Tom Waits and Crystal Gale supply a gorgeous soundtrack, and visually the film is perhaps the most sophisticated and spectacular Coppola has made to date. This magnificent folly may have ruined Coppola’s dream of running his own studio, but it also confirmed his obsession with developing new forms of expression by pioneering the use of new technologies.

U.S.A., 1982.
107 mins.