Heart

"Heart", a lean and taught psychodrama, peers into the life of a heart transplant patient as a strange and aberrant relationship develops between him and the heart donor's mother. An excellent film for those into razor sharp, no frills drama, "Heart" qualifies as an under-rated "sleeper". The film's only deficits are (on the DVD version I watched), mediocre video quality and poor sound with no English subtitles or CC. I listened to it via headphones so as to not miss a syllable. (B+)

I find it interesting that a previous review said "...you don't know whats going to happen next...". In fact, you know EXACTLY what's going to happen next because it's shown in the first 5 minutes. "Getting there" is pretty interesting and fairly gruesome. One thing I didn't like was that there are 4 characters, and none of them is the least bit likeable. In fact, they're all pretty hateable. The last shot of the movie is fantastic and took me by suprise. I'd recommend this film for some good acting and a pretty unusual plotline.

In England, Gary Ellis (Christopher Exxleston) is a very insecure and jealous pilot, who owns an airplane. He loves his wife Tess Ellis (Kate Hardie), but maybe because of his physical condition, she cheats him with the writer and her colleague Alex Madden (Rhys Ifans). One day, after his wife has had sex with Alex, Gary has a heart attack. Meanwhile, a seventeen years old man has a fatal accident with his motorcycle, and Gary receives his heart, through a successful operation. Gary decides to look for the donator's mother, Maria Ann McCardle (Saskia Reeves), a very religious woman and she becomes obsessed for Gary. The explosive combination of jealousy, affair and obsession leads the quartet to a tragic end. This movie is a really frightening thriller about obsession. The screenplay is very tight, the direction is very sharp, the atmosphere is scary and the four lead actors and actresses have really a great performance. It works perfectly on DVD. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available – I Saw It in an Imported DVD

The only way to see this film is on the big screen. It's dark, menacing, disturbing but has some moments of great power punctuated with lighter scenes of typical McGovern dialogue. The acting is first class as is the subtle direction. You may need a cast iron stomach for some of the sequences, especially at the end which is pretty shocking. Not exactly a deep movie, but a good watch none the less.

A fascinating tale of lust, jealousy and mourning. Well acted and skillfully written, it shows why British cinema is best at giving us a view of the dark side of human nature.

This film is not for the squeamish, and those of a delicate stomach should close their eyes at the first sound of "Anyone Who Had A heart", and not open them until it ends. Great use of old (1960's)songs.