chand-suhas

Sai Marthand's Little Hearts is an easy watch. He knows his target audience and has even got the perfect casting. The simple story doesn't have any twists and turns witn the love story itself barely having any challenging conflicts. Sure, he plays it too safe but most importantly plays it the right way. Both Mouli Tanuj Prashanth and Shivani Nagaram are impressive with strong support from the supporting cast.

Throughout the runtime, I didn't feel the narrative pace dipping. The first half introduces the characters and establishes the story which is solely derived by it's humor. The second half has one conflict point which fills up the remaining runtime and here too, the tone of the film remains intact as the conflict itself is easily resolved. Once again it's the humor that pulls it through. The sweet little venture demands very little from it's audience but entertains them thoroughly.

This unique blend of sci-fi disaster film has an intriguing plot which gets derailed in it's execution. I wish the entire film was about the great flood and remained a survival story but then the writing got way too ambitious in adding the sci-fi angle. The time loop thing did not really help the proceedings as at the core it was supposed to be driven by this strong mother - son sentiment yet the information provided in bits and pieces about these two characters, felt not strong enough for that bonding to work as intended.

This is not to say the film was completely unbearable. The performances were decent no matter how many times the boy disappeared annoyingly. The end of the world and humans relying on artifical intelligence for survival is not really a fresh concept. Neither is the disaster part. Probably mixing these two is what initially worked in the film's favor as the narrative remained engaging and it was also due to the emotional connect. Once the time loop began, that emotional connect started vanishing as well. Also the supporting characters barely get any arc so all of them don't really leave a mark. I am going with the lenient rating for the attempt.

Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar narrate the story of Robert Grainer, taking us through his life journey for 80 years. In this period, the world moves on from the railroads to even flying to the space. The film documents the events that happened in life, which was once filled with hope and how he let the grief win while letting the time pass without him moving on. The way I am framing the words is making him sound like someone who gave up too easy but the narrative shows the opposite and it is indeed an emotional ride filled with him commanding the strength to fight off his demons, holding out the strength to live through it all till he truly learns to let go.

The beauty of this screenplay is we are with Robert from the very first scene and we taken this journey along with him. Sure, there isn't too much for the other characters to avoid any sort of deviation from the main plot yet the narrative beautifully captures the how others leave an impact on him. Even the personal loss that breaks him, it does only for him to hold onto something that mattered to him the most. That was the life he dreamed off, with his family and beyond that, life exists but he chooses to cease to exist. And his realization of it towards the end, was the real masterstroke and how this is used to help him find his closure through the mystery girl. Even the slightest of hope of seeing his loved ones, gave him the strength to live despite not moving on. The performance too is top notch and Train Dreams was worth the time.