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Apocalypse Now Redux
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DVD Debut
Apocalypse Now Redux
Rated R
2001, Paramount
Apocalypse Now Redux restores Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic into a humanistic drama that serves as a welcome companion to his frequently misunderstood war movie. An additional 49 minutes of footage strips away much of the dramatic confusion from the original film. In the newly edited version, Capt. Benjamin Willard's (Martin Sheen) journey on a Navy PBR boat in search of American renegade, Col. Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando), brings a more spiritual dimension to the film's frequent napalm explosions and buzzing helicopters.
Popular scenes from the original film look better than ever. A crowd of soldiers rush the stage of a Playboy bunnies concert appearance. In the "Ride of the Valkyries" sequence, a squad of helicopter gun ships attack a Vietnamese village.
In the new footage, Willard and his crew reunite with the Bunnies in a nearly vacant military camp. In that haunting scene, Willard exchanges two barrels of fuel for a couple of hours with the Bunnies inside an abandoned helicopter fuselage.
Later in the film, Willard and the PBR boat crew encounter the family of a French plantation-owner (Christian Marquand) and a pretty French widow (Aurore Clément) at their isolated jungle home. In one of Brando's restored monologues, Kurtz reads aloud articles about the Vietnam War from old issues of Time magazine.
As a result of Coppola and editor Walter Murch's painstaking work, Apocalypse Now Redux has become a unique vision that's different from the 1979 film. Its hallucinatory footage and deliberate storytelling make Apocalypse Now Redux into the spiritual epic Coppola always intended his original film to be. (Grade: A)
DVD Debut
Diary of a Lost Girl
Unrated
1929, Kino
Historians will argue about the role of hapless men in German filmmaker G.W. Pabst's wide variety of movies. They'll talk about his emphasis on storytelling over visual style and his frequent battles with censors. Still, the most unforgettable element of Pabst's career remains his collaborations with the smoky Louise Brooks.
In Diary of a Lost Girl, Pabst's second collaboration with Brooks (coming on the heels of Pandora's Box), the comfortable life of a rich man's daughter is changed dramatically after she is seduced by her father's work assistant. Pregnant and ashamed, she is sent by her family to a cruel reform school. Later, she escapes and finds solace working at a brothel.
Censors took issue with the sex and sordid characters in Diary of a Lost Girl. At the time, it was felt that Pabst's criticism of middle-class hypocrisy bordered on tabloid sensationalism. Watching Dairy of a Lost Girl today, restored with nine additional minutes of footage, it's Pabst's thoughtful direction and Brooks' sensual charisma that continue to make the most powerful impact.
The comic short, Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1930), an example of Louise Brooks' work in American films, is included as an added bonus. (Grade: A)
Art House
Calle 54
Unrated
2000, Miramax
Spanish director Fernando Trueba travels to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain and the United States to film various musicians such as pianist Elaine Elias, saxophonist Gato Barbieri and the late Tito Puente, performing with his Golden Latin Jazz All Stars, for this rousing celebration of Latin Jazz. Shot in a matter-of-fact style, Calle 54 allows the musicians and their sensuous music to be the focus of the story. The film catches its breath whenever Trueba films the performers rehearsing and talking about their art. Still, Calle 54 is at its high-energy best during its stunning concert footage. Watching the late Puente perform, it's impossible not to be mesmerized by Calle 54's rhythmic beat. (Grade: B)
