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| Apocalypse Now (1979) at the Shin Bungeiza. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Tonight (Wednesday, January 3), I returned to the Shin Bungeiza theater in Ikebukuro to catch Apocalypse Now (1979) in 4K. Of course, it was the Final Cut version, which isn't my favorite, as I've always felt the original theatrical edit was by far the best version.
By my count, this would be the fourth time I've seen Apocalypse Now theatrically. The first time I saw it was circa 2018 at Toho Cinemas as part of its long-running program of showing classic movies at 10:00 a.m. That, of course, was the theatrical cut. Then I saw it again twice in 2020 when The Final Cut was released here via Toho Cinemas.
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| Apocalypse Now at the Shin Bungeiza. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
I have nothing to say about the movie that hasn't already been said countless times. It truly is a masterpiece. I will say, however, that the French plantation sequence really drags the film down. Instead of building up to the climax with Kurtz (Marlon Brando), the story gets interrupted by a puzzling sequence featuring wine-drinking and poetry-reciting Europeans. It's completely out of place and just isn't that interesting.
Nonetheless, the film looks amazing on the big screen, and the theater was literally shaking during some of the louder scenes -- a nice touch! I'm very glad I had the opportunity to see it again this way.
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