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[Heartless]
Plot:Jamie Morgan, a young man with a large heart-shaped birthmark on his face, discovers that there are demons on the streets of East London.
Cast:Jim Sturgess,
Clemence Poesy,
Noel Clarke,
Joseph Mawle,
Luke Treadaway,
Ruth Sheen,
Bhasker Patel,
Nicholas Tennant,
Justin Salinger,
Fraser Ayres,
Jack Gordon,
Imogen Church,
John MacMillan,
Shaya Raymond,
Rishi Doshi,
Matt Ingram,
Edward Green,
Nikita Mistry.
My Thoughts:Interesting story.
Review:"Heartless" is the latest genre effort from the UK. The film follows a young man named Jamie, who works as a photographer. He has his eyes set on a beautiful young model who he works with, but there's a problem. Jamie has a large birthmark on the side of his face, which has pretty much turned him into a recluse, who doesn't really talk to many people, and is constantly hiding himself beneath hoodies and similar attire. As this is happening, the part of town where Jamie lives, seems to be under siege by a gang war of sorts.
In particular, a gang of black-hooded youths who are burning their victims alive with molotav cocktails. And what look like hooded-youths at first, are soon revealed to be sharp-toothed, grotesque demons. Jamie has an encounter with the demons early on in the movie, an encounter which eventually leads to the demons cornering Jamie and his mother one night, and killing her in a sea of flames.
Jamie then calls on a friend for some weaponry, to protect himself from the gang of demons, and also seek revenge. But his newfound courage, soon leads him to the person who controls the demons. The person then makes Jamie an offer, an offer which would give Jamie an entirely new life. Jamie accepts the offer, and is soon free of his birth-scar. But there's soon revealed to be a catch to the deal with the devil, and Jamie will find that being "beautiful", comes with a heavy price.
"Heartless" is an intriguing film, it doesn't take the usual direction of most UK horror's, which rely on stupid teenagers, dry humor, and cheap scares to entertain the audience. Beyond "The Descent" and "Creep", UK horror has had more downs than ups in my estimation. But "Heartless" tells a brilliant story, and also has some above average acting as well. The movies overall story, which brings forth Jamie as a dark, hopeless, depressing character, blends in with the characters surroundings also, which is a dark, crime-ridden, urban/desolate sort of neighborhood.
Which is reminiscent of some of the less pleasurable areas of my hometown of New York, areas which can be found in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. So this character, during his lowest points, fits in very well with his environment. But when his luck changes, after being offered a chance to be "beautiful", by the mysterious Papa B., the films atmosphere changes with his decision to take the offer, and things get brighter all around Jamie...for the time being atleast.
The movies message really is a pretty heavy one for this particular genre. Horror films rarely go "messagey", but this one does. It bucks the usual societal stereotypes of vanity, superficiality, and looks obsession. And puts forth a question of how far would one go to be "perfect"? And how would one deal with the hidden strings, and consequences of making a faustian deal of sorts? A deal which would give said person their most wanted "perfection", and rid them of their imperfections.
It also has an underlying subplot of beauty is skin deep, as Jamie, once he's cured of his brith-scar, finds from a mysterious associate of Papa B., that he must do some hideous things to maintain his newfound good looks. As far as blood and gore is concerned, this film has very little of it, as it really harps on trying to tell a good story, instead of sloshing blood, gore, and slime all over the place for quick and cheap entertainment value. Something that I can appreciate considering the story is a solid one, and is told very well.
The film is violent, but not super violent. The violence in "Heartless" is well-placed, and not obligatory or forced upon the viewer for purposes of "it's a horror movie, so we need a beheading or two." The film uses violence in scenes where violence is necessary, again, another good quality when you've laid out early on that you wanna tell a story within the confines of a horror picture. The movies ending brings it's A game, as it's very dramatic, sad, twisted, and in some ways unfair.
But overall, it's a satisfactory conclusion to events of the film which clocks in at about 1 hour and 49 minutes. "Heartless" is definitely worth seeing if you like UK horror, and are looking for a genre film that brings a good story to the table, something that is a rareity these days.
Positives:Good performances, great storytelling, and a modestly decent ending.
Negatives:The ending was a bit unfair, but nothing to fret over in the big scheme of things.
Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.
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