The Good Heart (2009)

User Rating:

(awaiting 5 votes)

Director:

Dagur Kári

Writer:

Dagur Kári (writer)

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A bartender takes a young homeless man in under his wing. |

Cast

Paul Dano	...	Lucas
Brian Cox	...	Jacques
Damian Young	...	Roddie
Stephanie Szostak	...	Sarah
Isild Le Besco	...	April
Clark Middleton	...	Dimitri
Susan Blommaert	...	Nurse Nora
Nicolas Bro	...	Ib Dolby
Edmund Lyndeck	...	Barber
Michael J. Burg	...	Actor
Bill Buell	...	Roger Verne
Daniel Raymont	...	Markus
Stephen Henderson	...	Psychiatrist
André De Shields	...	Sooty
Henry Yuk	...	Chin Lee
Ed Wheeler	...	Jonathan
Uzimann	...	Stress Out Excercisor
Sonnie Brown	...	Nurse Woo
Adam S. Phillips	...	Patient in therapy
Steve Axelrod	...	The Farmer
Elissa Middleton	...	Mattie
Darren Foreman	...	Doctor
Catherina Ren Knerr	...	Nurse Darlene Niles
Eric Milano	...	Businessman (voice)
Carsten Thomas	...	Bar Regular
Seth Sharp	...	Nurse Billy
Boði	...	Rococo
Alice Olivia Clarke	...	Nurse Mona
Haraldur Jónsson	...	Silent Man
Henry Lovell Smith	...	Bar Regular
Michelle J. Nelson	...	Nurse Sheila
Alexander Zaklynsky	...	Bar Regular
Guy Conan Stewart	...	Ben
Sean McGlynn	...	Businessman
Kjartan Þórarinsson	...	Walk In
Sruli Recht	...	Bar Regular
Michael Pollock	...	Bar Regular
Aristedes Philip DuVal	...	Security Guard
Þórir Roff	...	Bar Regular
Robert Nelson	...	Bar Regular
Halfdan Pedersen	...	Roger Warhol

Runtime:

Canada:95 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Denmark | Iceland | USA | France | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company:

Ex Nihilo

Tour de force from Brian Cox & Paul Dano

I attended the North American Premiere of "The Good Heart" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Brian Cox and Paul Dano (reunited after the 2001 indie classic "L.I.E.") pull off a tour de force that left me breathless in this character piece from Icelandic writer/director Dagur Kári.

The film opens with Lucas (Dano) barely eking out a living in a cardboard box under a rusty highway overpass, with only a scrawny kitten as a companion. Jacques (Cox) runs a worn old bar where he's beginning to take on its characteristics. The two meet and a classic intergenerational arc is set up that carries the film to the end.

The film is dominated by a triumphant performance from Cox, one of the film world's masters. Shot primarily in one interior location, the theatrical nature of the script lends itself to playful interaction between the two leads. The chemistry between Cox and Dano began in 2001 with "L.I.E." and there's still magic in that relationship, forged over time as Dano has matured as an actor and into manhood. Interestingly, there are some references to cars and shaving which have carried over from "L.I.E." to "The Good Heart," intentional or not. Conflict is infused by the sudden appearance of April (Isild Le Besco), who forces the two to take sides even as their friendship is beginning to blossom.

Shot with mostly hand-held camera by cinematographer Rasmus Videbæk, "The Good Heart's" grainy film stock, washed out colors, and natural lighting without compensation for shadows give the film an honest look. A sweet soundtrack is mostly provided by the player piano that holds a prominent place in the bar. It's a clever and amusing device.

A long time in the making, "The Good Heart" spent five years in production with exteriors in New York and interiors in Iceland. Cox's introduction after the screening brought the first standing ovation of the festival.