Voyage of the Heart

A lonely old Monterrey Bay fisherman copes with changing times in this sensitive but not always successful debut feature by local indie moviemaker Mark Schwartz. The film is a gentle and affectionate slice of maritime life beautifully filmed on location south of Santa Cruz, California, but the script is maybe too close to real life, lacking any significant conflict (to say the least): the best it can do is a bureaucratic hassle with the Fish and Game Commission, and some domestic friction when the old sailor befriends and later falls in love with a liberal intellectual college student less than half his age. Fortunately the burden of drama rests with the character of Dominic: a salty old Italian with a soft spot for the old ways, and veteran actor Bill Ackridge inhabits the role as if born to it, giving a performance that totally overshadows his less experienced co-star. The film was originally released under the title 'Maddalena Z'.