Dark Hearts (2012)

When struggling artist Colson, finds his muse in sultry singer Fran, their daring romance spirals out of control into a dangerous game of deception and betrayal.'

Director:

Rudolf Buitendach

Writer:

Christian Piers Betley

Stars:

Kyle Schmid, Sonja Kinski, Lucas Till

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kyle Schmid	...	Colson
Sonja Kinski	...	Fran
Lucas Till	...	Sam
Rachel Blanchard	...	Clarissa
Goran Visnjic	...	Armand
Juliet Landau	...	Astrid
Richard Edson	...	Ravetti
Oscar Best	...	Dempsey
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Camille Banham	...	Leash Girl
Jennifer Barbosa	...	Drummer
Tony Curtis Blondell	...	Two Forty
Chris Trouble Delfosse	...	Tattooed guy
Tony Flores	...	Dempsey Crew #2
Steven Istock	...	Father
Maria Olsen	...	Crack Whore Girlfriend

Storyline

When struggling artist Colson, finds his muse in sultry singer Fran, their daring romance spirals out of control into a dangerous game of deception and betrayal.'

---

Taglines:

In love and art there's a thin line between passion and obsession.

---

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 2012 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boundless Pictures, Jack Bowyer Productions, Black Tulip

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Bloodlust for grown-ups

Dark Hearts is a vampire story that isn't a vampire story—a figurative take on well-worn folktales characterized by a literal thirst for blood, heightened sexuality, and bodily immortality. Such folklore has been exploited time and again by shrewd marketers targeting young adults—the demographic most driven by hormones, afflicted with delusions of invincibility, and unschooled in artistic discrimination. DH strikes at the core of these primordial desires but raises the creative bar by taking the literal to the figurative. It's been argued that all successful artists attain immortality through fame as do the subjects they choose to depict—so long as each model's essence is truly captured by the artist, and perhaps even sacrificed by the model for the sake of the work. If this be the case, then screenwriter Christian Piers Betley has successfully married the symbolic immortality of fine art to the time-honored vampiric folklore to engender a unique brand of bloodlust and a far more plausible anti-heroic struggle for immortality. Betley's story flourishes under the direction of Rudolf Buitendach (a man with an apparent love for the industrial underbelly of Los Angeles) who draws impressively visceral performances from stars Kyle Schmid (who plays struggling artist, Colson) and Lucas Till (Colson's naive younger brother, Sam) as well as from newcomer Sonja Kinski (sultry singer and kept girl, Fran) who moves deftly between femme fatale and fragile waif. Theme-wise, other volatile ingredients in the pot include fraternal rivalry, psychological addiction, paranoia, mental/physical abuse, and men with guns—all of the makings of a complex thriller and a Shakespearean tragedy. Some characters could have been imbued with a bit more dimension. For example, Goran Visnjic plays the all-too-familiar violent mobster with no apparent motive beyond a psychopathic need to possess and harm. Overall, however, DH is a winning, atmospheric debut piece from an up-and-coming filmmaker whose future work I await with anticipation.