Heartless

Ridley's first film in way too many years is a dark urban fairytale about a young photographer who encounters murderous demons on the streets of London. Firstly, I have to admit to being a huge fan of Ridley's work and The Reflecting Skin is in my personal Top 10 movies of all time, so I have to say I loved this genre-playing horror film.

Heartless is, to my mind, Ridley's most conventional film to date as it is the first truly genre-based film he has made, but, underneath the conventions of the horror film we find his usual philosophical musings on death, beauty, existentialism, good and evil, chaos and the individual's struggle to make sense of the world.

Heartless is a step towards the mainstream for Ridley and that may well be its commercial undoing; too "mainstream" genre for the art-house crowd, too cerebral for the thrill loving multiplex gore-hound.

Ultimately, this is a serious film, a dark and often beautiful film that haunts the mind after viewing and already demands a second viewing of me to unravel some of its dark mysteries. Intelligent, moving, sometimes shocking and occasionally funny this is an engrossing and enjoyable piece of work that gives food for thought as well as an entertaining ghost train of a ride. Approach this one with an open mind and you will be rewarded with a strong contemporary horror film with some real depth and intelligence.

Now,... I never feel motivated to write reviews; This is my first. Although in the past I've seen many great motion pictures and thought about it, I just didn't want to spend the time putting my feasibly mundane typed words into a critique.

To the people that rated this a 1 star and said don't waste your time, I'm happy I decided to anyway. To anybody reading this, don't pay attention to those people. Actually, I feel sorry for those reviewers, because they completely missed the point of this piece of art. It is not your typical horror. To call it a horror would be like calling moonlight sonata just a piano song; or the person closest to you just a human. This film is beyond deep. Philip Ridleys portrayal of facing your own demons, your fears, and exposing some rays of happiness through darkness, is one of the most strange yet gorgeous things I've seen ever in a movie.

If you watch this film and are not moved in some way, I honestly wouldn't know what to say. Because this visual masterpiece is in my eyes one of the greatest I've ever seen. I don't care what the critics say, or some random individual who has the mind to dismiss it as just a complex meaningless thriller. To me, this was a heart-moving, near perfection, possibly life-changing viewing; possibly due to the fact that I instantly related to scenes in the movie. It was like looking at my soul in the clearest of mirrors. The ending was..well there's no word for it.

I really hope more people have watched this one and understand what I feel right now. I feel..reborn.

This is a "psychological" thriller as much or more than a horror film. First, Jim Sturgess is excellent and has a brilliant career ahead of him. Why we haven't seen more of Joseph Mawie, the "devil" character, over the years is beyond me. Mawie is extremely creepy and steals his scenes. Timothy Spall and Ed Marson are underrated, though you've seen them a thousand times.

The depiction of dark London is well done. And the supernatural elements are well introduced, conservatively used and blended well with the psychological travails of our main character. But there is so much going on that at times I caught myself trying to piece bits together to guess at what I was supposed to be guessing at. The "neighbor" functions as a good foil but we're led to believe he has/will have something to do with the plot, which he really doesn't. The "nephew" subplot, though of some importance to a a late plot explanation, becomes annoying early on and the actor is less than convincing.

Fun nonetheless. Difficult to make a passable horror film these days.

Philip Ridley is an artist, a writer and a film director whose work is considered unconventional and unique in every form he touches. Some how he manages to marry all of these forms in his most recent HEARTLESS, including writing the lyrics to the many songs by David Julyou that play such an important role in the unfolding of this visit to the Faust legend. It is harsh, dark, disturbing, and at times a bit over the top as far as his need to make visual things that go bump in the dark. But in the end, with the incomparable help of featured actor Jim Sturgess, he makes it work.

Jamie Morgan (Jim Sturgess) is a young 25-year old photographer living in a squalid area of London with his loving mother (Marion Morgan): Jamie bears a birthmark on his face and the upper torso that makes him the victim of prejudice by the boys in the neighborhood and has resulted in his living the life of a recluse. Jamie's brother and nephew (Luke Treadway and Justin Salinger) stay close to the home but are preoccupied with other matters - some good some bad. Jamie longs for his departed father (Timothy Spall) who 'made the world make sense' and he longs for a relationship with a girl so that he can have a family and be normal. Walking the streets at night Jamie hears screams and witnesses sights that terrify him: he is aware that gangs rule the world and in time he is assaulted with his mother during a night walk and his mother is killed. In an attempt to find sense out of chaos Jamie becomes friends with a new neighbor AJ (Noel Clarke) and is offered a handgun by a local merchant (Frazer Ayers) 'to protect himself. As Jamie becomes more terrified with the creatures he sees in the night and angered by the death of his mother he ultimately meets Papa B (Joseph Mawle) who just happens to have strange powers to offer Jamie anything he wishes. Jamie makes a pact with Papa B, agreeing to promote chaos in the streets in the form of writing graffiti in turn for Papa B removing the ugly birthmark from his body. Papa B's young girl assistant Charlie (Nadia Theaker) bonds with Jamie and becomes like the daughter Jamie has always wanted.

Now, without the physical disfigurement Jamie attracts a pretty delivery girl Tia (Clémence Poésy) and seems to have found his wishes come true - with Tia and Charlie as family. But Papa B has other plans and sends his Weapons Man (Eddie Marsan) who gives Jamie an altered version of his assignment from his pact with Papa B and the world becomes ruled by horror. How Jamie responds to his new bizarre assignments changes the course of the tale, a course best not shared in a review.

Jim Sturgess makes this role of a seemingly impossible spectrum of acting an example of just how skilled he has become in his craft. The cast is good but burdened with many aspects of the bizarre that keep the viewer form connecting in a positive way. The cinematography by Matt Gray is appropriately dark and the visual effects, though excessively ugly, make the atmosphere of this dark tale work. It is a strange film and requires that viewer to suspend disbelief, but the impact and underlying message is strong.

Grady Harp

Philip Ridley brings us a new style of horror. Mesmerizing and twisted, Heartless tries to appeal to our deepest senses - fear simply being one of them - by means of psychology. The "monster" in this so called horror drama, is not a monster at all but an inner pattern of what makes us humans; of what our feelings may turn us into.

Perhaps the movie is slightly underrated because the point of view that should have been used to look at this movie was not from the outside of the box but from the inside.

The performances were pretty good especially from Joseph Mawle(Papa B) whom i have only seen in Merlin, Eddie Marsan("Sherlock Holmes") and his charismatic flavor and of course Jim Sturgess who proves once again that he is a British star on a dark sky. However i expected somewhat more from Clemence Poesy("War and Peace", "In Bruges) other than a lovely accent.

Overall, i give "Heartless" an 8/10 for the feelings they tried to bring up but failed in a small measure. I do believe that concentrating even more on the feelings and less on the horror part would've brought this movie a greater rating. Nonetheless, it is worth two hours of your spare time.