Review for 'Heartless'

Release Date - Out Now

Directed by – Philip Ridely

Starring – Jim Sturgess, Clémence Poésy, Noel Clark.

“Another horror movie. Just what the world needs.” say Matt Bochenski [for LWL] in his review of Philip Ridley’s latest film Heartless without any hesitation or care for his genre bashing. I myself am obviously a very big horror fan so for someone to say that I simply answer “Yes it is actually.”

But the thing is about Heartless is that it isn’t much of a horror. I’d say it’s about as much of a horror as Donnie Darko was. Sure they both have horror elements with Heartless verging more onto complete horror appose to Donnie Darko, but over all I’d say they where supernatural fantasy with cheap horror scares. But this connection between the two films which share the same themes and the same kooky and shy protagonist (not forgetting their demented psyches).

Heartless tells the Brother’s Grim like story about Jamie played by Jim Sturgess, a photographer from the East end of London who was born with a vivid birthmark on his face and body. He feels like he is a social outcast as the yobs around his building make fun of him on his way home which has thrown him into a pit of disperse and loneliness. One night whilst taking photo’s he comes across a strange scene with hooded daemons disguised as yobs screaming and cackling around a fire then at his brothers studio Jamie begins to fall for Tia played by Clémence Poésy who’s heritage and background is left in the shadows. What follows is these two instances begins his decent into this strange world of daemons and self loathing as Jamie makes a deal with Papa B.

I had been looking forward to Heartless for a few weeks now and after watching it I had to think it over. Now this to me isn’t a bad thing. Whether a film turns out terrible in the end if it made you think about it it’s done something to resonate in you. Thankful to say I really did enjoy the flick. At one point I began to doubt it however it recovered.

The dark portal of London will haunt the local’s nights and indeed those walking alone at night. The film is lead brilliantly by Sturgess and has some great actors making an appearance such as Noel Clark as the next door neighbour and my personal favourite Eddie Marsan as the Weapons Dealer. Some strange choices where made by the director and a lot about characters and plot are left in the dark to die which makes some element suffer but over all it’s an enjoyable look into the mind of a young man battling his daemons. We’ve all been there, but hopefully not to such an extreme. I can see this being dragged away by the cult movie community to a place it probably belongs.

Anticipation - 4

Enjoyment - 3

In Retrospect – 3

In the Cinemas Friday, on DVD Monday.

So Phillip Ridley’s new film Heartless (released Friday 21st May) staring my personal new favourite (along with Son Kang-ho) Eddie Marsan, was released in cinemas but it will also be coming out on DVD on Monday.

When I heard this I was fascinated because I have never seen anything like this (not that it hasn’t happened already). Why I think this is so interesting for several reasons but to explain I’ll start from the beginning.

I was catching by with the BBC Radio 5 Live Film Review with the good Dr and Simon Mayo and they had Phillip Ridley in to interview him about his new horror/thriller (now you can see why I was listening) but my ears really pricked up when I heard that the film was being release within a week on one another.

I began to question where this was a good idea or a really bad one. And ten minutes last I decided it was.

Whilst listening to the interview I searched the web to try find where the movie was and hopefully still is playing but with no luck. This is either because I wasn’t looking hard enough or because the distribution hasn’t given it a wide release. However because of this I only need wait a couple of days and I could watch it at home. Free from those cursed adverts!

This to me sounds like a good idea because how many people have seen a movie at your local art house cinema, walked out and said “I’m buying that on DVD”. If I walked out of The Disappearance of Alice Creed and had the choice to buy it, I definitely would. Not that DVD sales are bad because they do better the cinema sales however would it increase because of this?

However I see why they didn’t do it with films such as Avatar. The distributors of the DVD’s wait six months for people pre order and go crazy waiting for the films.

I think I’m going to be getting Heartless on DVD but I would still love to see it in a cinema. I’ve seen Evil Dead 2 a dozen times but I would still see it in the cinema. But is it a good thing that the DVD comes out at the same time of the cinematic release? Will it hurt the cinema ticket sales? What do you think?