DIR: Damien O'Donnell • WRI: Paul Fraser, Richard Jobson • PROD: Gina Carter, Richard Jobson • DOP: Alwin H. Kuchler • ED: Frances Parker • CAST: Michael Sheen, Mark Addy, Jeff Carter, Jane Robbins
Following the collapse of his Vatican drama Edgardo Mortara embattled Irish director Damien O'Donnell made Heartlands, his second feature, on a budget of some $2.5million with Miramax and the British Film Board. However Executive Producer Harvey Weinstein wanted to put a star in this road movie of working class malaise in order to make the film more audience friendly. Naturally O'Donnell refused and threatened to walk, Weinstein relented but then effectively buried the film subject to a good performance on this side of the Atlantic. The result is a tentative opening for Heartlands, playing on small screens in Ireland and England before a release elsewhere is even contemplated. This is an unfortunate situation for O'Donnell since the success of East is East should have afforded him greater coverage than this but maybe some solace can be taken from the fact that O'Donnell's end product is quite a good, if not a great film.
Heartlands tells the story of Colin, local newsagent, simpleton and darts expert who one night catches his beloved wife with the captain of his team (and local copper) just days before their trip to Blackpool for a tournament. Quickly replaced both in sport and in marriage by his superior Colin finds he has to win back his way of life so he sets off on his Honda 50 to Blackpool and redemption, such is the plan anyway. Of course travel broadens the mind and soon enough Colin learns that he deserves better than he has known and that life has more to offer than scraggy hair, bad beer and his game of choice.
Written by Paul Fraser (co-writer of Shane Meadows' films) and shot by Alwin Küchler (Lynne Ramsay's cinematographer), O'Donnell has put together a competent creative team capable of illuminating without patronising the film's gallery of ne'er do wells and hopeless creatures. The bleakness of the first act in deepest suburbia is quickly remedied by the open road and its wider pastoral landscape used with various effects from the tragic to the comic depending on Colin's state of mind.
As for Colin himself he is something of a stock simpleton at first, borderline deficient and prone to believing friendship exists in the most unlikely of places. Ironically this quality, his downfall at home becomes a virtue in the wider world, making him progressively more likeable as he meets more people during his quest. By the time of his arrival in Blackpool Colin is a changed creature retaining his child-like appreciation for the world but wiser for his troubles. All praise must go to Michael Sheen for his portrayal of a man of simple needs, if not that simple in mind after all.
Heartlands is a likeable boy-meets-world road movie with the usual amounts of heart and wisdom provided by a supporting cast of random encounters from an tree hugging eco-warrior to a shady pub boss on the make. The formula remains nothing new but its use in the English context makes for interesting viewing. Its also nice to see working class people depicted not as an underbelly but as a way of life, getting along at their own pace. Leftist social commentary a la Ken Loach this is not.
As a film Heartlands has the script, the visuals, the actors and an affecting sound track of folk songs about loss and innocence. Perhaps not as energetic as East is East or as worthy as Mortara might have been this is still a charming little film that deserves to find its audience. Bring a friend.
In cinemas 2nd May 2003.