A Heartless Review

Philip Ridley's British supernatural thriller Heartless made its Toronto theatrical premiere at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

The streets of East London are in a turbulent time, with gang violence plaguing innocent people and every night on the news another story of seemingly random acts of violence are reported.

In the midst of this is Jamie Morgan (Jim Sturgess), a young man with a large heart-shaped birthmark across his face, and down his neck and arm. Jamie can't seem to see past his birthmark, for which he's tormented, and assumes no one else can either. When the violence literally hits too close to home, he gets dragged down a dark Faust-like path driven by his desire for love and beauty.

There is some smart editing that makes you jump in your seat, and the demon designs were quite cool. However, and unfortunately there is a bit of a however, the story that hooked me in the beginning let out too much slack towards the end. Perhaps they underestimated the audience since the big reveal lacked punch because I'd already figured it out long before. And because I'd figured it out, I was waiting for another twist or turn that never came. This left me feeling slightly disappointed at the end, however again, I thoroughly enjoyed it up til then.

Emer Schlosser
		About the author:
		Always a fan of words in various glorious forms – novels, dialogue, lyrics, etc – Emer translated her passion into a writing career in 2005. She has since supplied gossip on celebrities to Canadian Press, interviewed individuals from the arts for Inside Entertainment, expressed her fondness for food for Cheese Boutique’s blog, & co-founded, edited and contributed to iheartthemusic.com. At the moment she’s taking the mystery out of Green Living and providing some great tips on Home Renovation, Decorating & Design and Curb Appeal to the members of casaGURU.com. casaGURU, “the homeowner’s home online”, is a free web community that connects homeowners and local house experts.
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