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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
HEARTLESS Writer/Director Philip Ridley first caught my attention before I had even knew his name. His last film, made 15 years ago, was called The Passion of Darkly Noon, and I remember seeing it on Cinemax. It was a disturbing little number with Brendan Fraser and Ashley Judd, where the former played some crazy religiously-brought-up kid who goes ape shit. It was weird and manic, and I remember liking it, though perhaps it was best left to the late-night lot of movies, where it’s seen once and then, crafty as it may be, left to its own devices for other unsuspecting viewers. The same could maybe be said of Ridley’s latest film, Heartless, which could be another late-night cult-curio. Certainly having hot young Brit star Jim Sturgess (21, Across the Universe) doesn’t hurt. In the movie’s first half, Sturgess has a big red birthmark on the side of his face shaped like a heart. His on-the-fringe character, Jamie, is a talented photographer but a social outcast due to his face. He lives with his family in the same kind of rough East London housing complex where Michael Caine kicked ass in Harry Brown. And on top of this, he sees mysterious, violent creatures of the night—literally demons in cloaks killing random people. After the unthinkable happens—a pack of the demon-creatures kill off Jamie’s mum—Jamie, despondent and depressed, goes deeper to find what the hell is going on with these demon things, whom most other people can’t seem to see. Turns out it’s really (dun-dun-DUN) the devil, or some kind of big-daddy demon (Joseph Mawle) with long black hair and goatee. So, yeah, a Faustian deal is made, the birthmark removed, and happiness and a hot relationship with a French woman, Tia (Clémence Poésy), follow. Jamie, though, can’t seem to renege on the deal: he will (gulp) have to do the devil’s bidding. In a darkly hilarious scene, he’s assigned to do a rather gruesome act when one of the demon’s minions comes over to Jamie’s to pick out his weapon for his task, talking like a bored bureaucrat who has been working on the job for too long. The atmosphere is suffused with dread, and Ridley’s aim is perhaps akin to Guillermo del Toro’s in Pan’s Labyrinth, where there’s enough madness and violence to spare in reality, and in fantasy it’s pretty nasty and brutal, too. But he’s not being able to make up his mind. The movie seems content being really about demons and the devil. But, gasp, what if Jamie is really just plain old nuts? Ridley shouldn’t mess with viewers after they have spent so much time investing in what seems to be a straightforward fantasy (del Toro is much better at navigating between fantasy and reality). And the movie also dives knee-deep into melodrama in its last 15 minutes, becoming just flat-out bad with lots of contrivances that turn the resolution into a much, MUCH bigger tragedy than it needed to be. Yet, there’s something appealing about Heartless. Maybe some of it’s Sturgess, who’s a likable chap (if perhaps a little too good looking even with that big red scar on his face). The film really gets into a groove once it turns dark—after the murder of Jamie’s mum and Jamie’s transformation following the Faust-style deal. About a
third of the movie is chilling, horrifying, strange, and macabre, shot
with tension and room for the actors to do their thing. Another third is
a decent story, if a little maudlin. And the rest of it’s just off its
hinges, not knowing what to do with itself as a horror-drama-romance.
The film jumps around, but when it sticks to the horror, it’s worth
watching. Hence, the recommendation for a late-night viewing; skip
around the movie and you’ll get something out of it. All in one sitting,
with its bad emo-metal rock and hit-or-miss special effects (the demons
make-up rule, the rest are just meh), it’s a little hard to take. In
small doses, it’s entertaining.
Jack Gattanella
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