Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Memorable, crazy movie

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) **** (out of 4)Excellent documentary about the madness that Francis Ford Coppola put himself through trying to make the epic APOCALYPSE NOW.It turns out that Coppola's wife was shooting during the entire production of the movie so directors Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper took this footage, added new interviews with the cast and crew and turned it into a terrific example of what lengths certain people will go to in order to reach what vision they have. I think the film falls a tad bit short of BURDEN OF DREAMS but there's no question that this film is quite addicting.I think the greatest thing about this movie is that it gives you a great idea of what it takes in order to get what you want. Throughout the shooting of the film we see Coppola slowly losing his mind as all sorts of production troubles happen. There are typhoons, a war where the helicopters he's paying for are needed for battle, Martin Sheen has a heart attack and then there's Marlon Brando getting paid a million a week but refusing to shoot anything until he understands his character.It's fascinating to see the effect all of this has on Coppola and how he eventually begins to crack. My only complaint on the film is that it didn't run longer because I would have sat through another hour or so worth of material. The film also benefits from the terrific behind-the-scenes footage and especially the stuff with Brando. I've never been overly thrilled with the ending to APOCALYPSE NOW but after watching this it all makes sense.

Almost as powerfully haunting, profoundly disturbing & incredibly harrowing an experience as the motion picture whose troubled production it brings to life on the silver screen, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse validates the claim that notable director Francis Ford Coppola made about his 1979 feature, that his film wasn't about Vietnam... it was Vietnam.Deriving its name from Joseph Conrad's novella on which Apocalypse Now is based upon, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse covers the behind-the-scenes production work of Coppola's final masterpiece, chronicles the countless problems the project kept running into, and also captures the extremity its entire cast & crew were pushed to during its filming in the Philippines.Co-directed by George Hickenlooper & Fax Bahr, who used the footage that was filmed & later provided to them by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, this documentary is highly gripping from the first frame to the last and while it's not an easy sit, it's too difficult to take your eyes off the screen because it all looks so surreal. Everyone knew on paper about the troubles Apocalypse Now was going through yet it's through the Hearts of Darkness that we get our first look at just how nightmarish everything actually was.Brilliantly narrated by Eleanor Coppola, Hearts of Darkness opens with Francis Ford Coppola uttering the now iconic quotes about his harrowing experience of shooting his picture during its premiere at 1979 Cannes Film Festival, which is then followed by the depiction of each n every encountered problem, starting with the replacement of the lead actor within days into principal photography and concluding with Coppola arriving at the feature's premiere, where it is quite evident that he's not the same person anymore.It's actually upsetting to see the visionary filmmaker who had two of the greatest films ever made to his name reduced to a person who was contemplating suicide. Apocalypse Now hit Coppola the hardest for it planted the seed of self-doubt in his mind, drove him to the point of insanity, and with all the costly sets getting destroyed due to bad weather, actor's health issues, the continuously inflating budget & other things, it's no surprise that it eventually took such a toll on him that he still hasn't fully recovered from it.It's a soul-crushing moment when a clear ambition is marred by aggravating circumstances which is what happened in that film's case as Coppola himself got the first-hand experience of what he intended to capture with his picture; a descent into primal madness. But what eventually came out from the abyss is a cinema that has horror written all over it and while it can be disputed, it's difficult to imagine that Apocalypse Now would've been the same film if everything that did go wrong during its production hadn't actually gone wrong.Hearts of Darkness is methodically paced from start to finish and there's a very natural flow to how all the events unfold on the screen. Coppola's weight fluctuations, Martin Sheen's drunk acting, his heart attack, weather playing spoilsport, government not fully cooperating, production running over budget & over schedule, Coppola having no proper ending in sight, Marlon Brando bringing an all new sets of problems, all this & other interviews are infused into this documentary in a manner that makes it an enlightening, entertaining & informative experience.On an overall scale, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is regarded by many as the finest documentary ever made and of all the documentaries that I've seen so far, it's the best. It has the same vibe of the deranged classic whose highly frustrating production it chronicles, is tightly structured & cleverly paced throughout its runtime which makes its content all the more engaging & intriguing, and is absolutely unflinching in shedding light on the life-changing impact it had on several members of its cast n crew, most notably Francis Ford Coppola. A must supplement for everyone who's seen Apocalypse Now, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse comes strongly recommended.

Documentary about the chaotic shoot that went into making the modern classic "Apocalypse Now" that notoriously went way over budget and schedule, with numerous delays in filming in the Philippines because of either the government or the weather, not to mention a change in lead actor that led to the fortuitous casting of Martin Sheen, and the difficult but key involvement of costar Marlon Brando, and an unfinished script. There was even speculation that the film would collapse, and force director & writer Francis Ford Coppola into bankruptcy.Interesting to a point of course, and the famous final line "The Horror" takes on special meaning in this context, but may have lost some power in this era of DVD/Blu-Ray documentary extras that are now so common, and just as good as this, if not better...

This definitely seems to stem some of the same themes Apocalypse Now does, and I honestly think that it's better. It's more focused, better paced, not as pretentious, and it makes sense. The themes of obsession and art hit harder and seem to be fleshed out more fully, and developed well. Of course, since it's real life, one can say it happened by accident, but my point still remains. Seeing just how high these actors were was really shocking (especially Dennis Hopper, oh boy). I think it could have hit even more greatness had it tapped into this more, but alas, this is a very good film that I'm sure anyone can really enjoy for what it is.