Las Vegas, the 4th of July. Hank, a car mechanic, and Frannie, a store window decorator, are a couple celebrating their anniversary. However, they argue and break up, with Frannie leaving the house to stay at her friend. Out of spite, Frannie goes out with singer Ray, and Hank with circus performer Leila. They spend the night with their respective lovers, but then Hank has a change of heart and wants to return to Frannie. He breaks into the hotel room and interupts Frannie in bed with Ray, kidnapping her in his car. Frannie still leaves him and boards a plane with Ray for Bora Bora. Hank returns back home, and Frannie returns to him, too, unexpectedly.
After his exhausting filming with "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now", the director Francis Ford Coppola rightfully decided to make a light, relaxing film for a change, "One from the Heart", but it seems he had trouble switching from a monumental-epic style of the said two films to that of an intimate storyline about two ordinary people in everyday situations, without any danger or stakes. As such, this film looks somewhat lukewarm, almost as if Coppola lost his sense for crafting an engaging storyline. The story is nice, yet it often feels as if something is "off", probably due to a lack of inspired writing or the overindulgence with the overloud jazz music playing too often, forcing it even to play over the characters while they are talking, which makes it difficult to hear what they are saying. However, the two leading actors are in top notch shape, especially the excellent Teri Garr, who is very charming and sweet as Frannie. One of the funniest moments is a dinner sequence early on, where Frannie admits to Hank that he was not her ideal "prince charming", but that he was "nice", and hoped that he would change into something better, but then this gradually morphs into her admitting: "But you haven't changed. And you're not even nice anymore!" This slowly escalates into an argument, with several silly insults ("Hey, if I was putting on a few pounds, why didn't you say something?" - "Because you never listen to anything I say, anyway!"). It is a pity the movie did not focus on more of such funny sequences, since it loses itself in the meandering story without a clear point, though Coppola has a few interesting moments of visual style: one of them is the impressive scene where Hank sits at the apartment of his friend, and then the projection of Frannie and her friend is screened on the wall, as the camera drives to the right and then switches to the latter across the wall.
Grade:++
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