Hearts of Darkness - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

As I very recently reviewed this film, I see no real need to re-review it when I wouldn't say anything different. 

"...I swallowed a bug..."

How do you review insanity in action on a 1-5 star scale? There are some pieces of work out there that just transcend rating or review simply because they’re the perfect document of an experience. Apocalypse Now is one of the greatest American films ever made. Coppola has a couple of those accolades to his name, but this mashup of the Vietnam War and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a legendary piece of filmmaking. Not simply because of the final product (in all its iterations), but because of what happened behind the scenes. And Eleanor Coppola was there to capture the unfolding madness and insanity in real time. 

Apocalypse Now was a larger-than-life event picture where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Before the film was even finished, the Hollywood trades treated it as an unfolding fiasco. Between its ballooning budget, sudden cast changes, typhoons destroying sets, and Coppola personally leveraging his assets, all were fodder feeding the Hollywood press hungry for a scoop. But what those publications printed wasn’t even half of the craziness occurring on a near-daily basis in the Philippines. 

For years after Coppola finally finished the film and released it to huge accolades, the stories of what happened during the shoot were left to rumor. What happened to Harvey Keitel? How were the sets destroyed? Did Coppola really drive Martin Sheen insane? Was Brando really an absolute nightmare on set? The answers to these questions were what people salivated over. It wasn’t just that the film was incredible; people wanted to know what happened on set to make it such an unbelievable production. 

That’s where Eleanor Coppola’s on-set footage and recordings became such a pivotal piece of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It’s one thing to gather new (for the time this was made) interviews with various cast and crew members; it’s an entirely different beast to see these rumored events unfold. And in a swift 96 minutes, this documentary accomplishes that seemingly impossible task of giving us a mere taste of what happened between each frame. 

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is a genuinely fascinating experience and essential viewing once you’ve finished the main feature. Thanks to Eleanor’s footage and material, we get to move away from a bunch of talking heads and cutaways and go on the journey of making Apocalypse Now. And it’s fascinating. While I am leveraging a full 5 out of 5 rating, I have one lone gripe - it’s only 96 minutes! I’m sure, given all of the footage and interviews available, there’s a lot of material that just isn’t worth the attention. But apparently, the assembly cut of this documentary ran nearly six hours, and I’m sure I could watch all of it!

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
After already enjoying a slick release from StudioCanal in the UK, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse comes to 4K UHD in the States thanks to Lionsgate as a single-disc + digital release. The disc is pressed on a Region Free BD100 disc and is housed in a standard case without a slipcover (at least our review copy didn't come with a slipcover). The included digital code is not Movies Anywhere compatable. 

Encoding differences aside, the Dolby Vision HDR transfer for this disc is essentially identical to the StudioCanal disc. I did some quick disc flippies to compare bitrates and by and large they're within range of each other. A little higher here, a little lower there, but overall I didn't see anything to suggest an advantage one disc over the other. With that, my thoughts on the StudioCanal transfer remain the same for this edition: 

Given how readily available this doc is - it’s a bonus feature for the 4K UHD release of Apocalypse Now here in the States - I wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure that it would even need a stand-alone 4K release at all, but sure enough, this is a hell of a great looking presentation. It’s always looked amazing, largely because of Eleanor Coppola’s steady hand, the footage has always looked incredible, but it’s really quite something to see that 16mm material come to life in 2160p with Dolby Vision HDR. 

While Eleanor narrates and we get some new (for the time) interviews with various cast and crew members, it’s the material shot on set in 1976 and 1977 that really captures your attention. Seeing Kertz’s Cambodian compound under construction. Seeing the sets that were destroyed by the typhoon. Seeing the rough raw versions of the French Plantation sequence, all of that is fascinating. Most fascinating, though, is seeing Coppola and Brando going head to head during the extensive improvisational moments, as that footage is genuinely captivating. It’s one thing to hear about two incredible artistic minds going toe-to-toe, but then seeing it in action is an altogether different experience. It's also a real kick to see these behind-the-scenes edits intercut with the finished film. 

Between the interviews done in the late 1980s and the on-set footage, the clarity in details and the condition of some of the scenes can shift a bit, but it all looks amazing in 4K. The 16mm on-set footage obviously is a bit grainier, detail quality can fluctuate - there’s even some scratches here and there, and a little bit of light exposure damage, but nothing severe or out of place for what this material has to offer.

This domestic release of Hearts of Darkness utilizes the same DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, which is excellent, but it omits the equally impressive LPCM Mono track that StudioCanal offered. While I enjoy this 5.1 mix, it's very good, but for what it offered in a number of sequences is a mostly front/center expereince. I thought that LPCM track was the better balanced option and it's not available here. So for that reason I'm knocking back the audio score a half-star. Here's what I wrote previously:

On top of a great video transfer, this release offers the film in LPCM mono as well as a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. Given that much of the material is narration and music, with some on-set recordings and so forth, the LPCM track might be the best overall audio option. But that isn’t to say the 5.1 track fluffs it. It’s actually an engrossing experience when those surround channels kick in during the height of any chaotic scene or the cutaways to big action beats from the finished film. The 5.1 uses that extra channel space nicely, but it’s not always active. And that leads to the point of necessity. This film didn’t need a 5.1 track, as good as it is. The LPCM mix is the best balanced for all audio elements concerned, and I feel it’s the more effective of the two. Those compelled to give the DTS-HD MA 5.1 a whirl won’t be disappointed, but purists can safely rely on the original mix. 

For this domestic release of Hearts of Darkness, we’re given a minuscule fraction of the bonus features that StudioCanal offered. The lone extra feature we have is still very good and interesting, a new Making of Documentary that is essential viewing for sure. But we sadly miss out on the 2007 audio commentary with the Coppolas, and we miss out on the vast range of Eleanor Coppola's short films and her terrific making-of documentaries. So, if those extras are important to you, I strongly suggest you go ahead and import the UK edition. 

• The Making of Hearts of Darkness (HD 37:34)

Hearts of Darkness is the sort of film that should be shown in film schools as a fair warning of how a production could go completely sideways - but also to inspire perseverance because a disaster could turn into incredible lasting art. Hearing the stories of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and how everything went wrong is one thing, but to see the raw footage as it happened is truly captivating. This documentary is essential viewing for any film fan, and it comes home with a terrific 4K UHD transfer and great audio. But unfortunately for this domestic release from Lionsgate, the set is gutted for extras. We do get the great new making-of doc (a doc about a doc?), but we also miss out on hours of content that the StudioCanal set enjoyed making this one a decidedly lesser value. With that, if you’re in it just to have this documentary in 4K UHD, consider this Lionsgate release Recommended