The Good Heart (2010)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

best movie i've ever seen.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film is something between a feel-good and melancholic thoughtful movie. Sometimes, the dialog is really good, and the bar owner is great in his role.However, the movie is a little bit too much predictable in many scenes. Sometimes, it's good when a film can't be put in a specific genre. But for this one, I wish it would have been more consequent in style. It feels like the director couldn't make up his mind.For some interesting dialogs, the nice atmosphere and the great bar owner role, I give this movie 5/10.*spoiler warning* For the lack of knowledge about what happened to the stewardess and for the 5-10 silent seconds before the end-music starts playing (sometimes, it add to the atmosphere to do like that, but here it was totally wrong) I can't give it more than 5.If you don't have anything else to do, this film is OK to watch. (It's actually much better than most of what's going on the cinemas nowadays...)

If you are a Netflix member and have rated a lot of movies on their site, they will suggest a rating for movies you haven't seen yet. It suggested I would think this is a pretty good movie, they were wrong. As they have been before. I don't trust it.The first impression is one of dark and dirt. It is shot in a color style that evokes depression. The characters aren't happy, the situations aren't joyous, and this mood never changes so I found it hard to watch and enjoy.We never find out any reason why, but Paul Dano as Lucas is without job or family and lives in a box under an elevated street in New York City. He opens a can, we don't know if it is tuna or pet food, he gives some to a kitten and eats the rest himself. Eventually he gets depressed to make a feeble attempt to kill himself, and doesn't succeed, but ends up in the hospital. There he meets Jacques.We've seen Brian Cox in so many American roles it is easy to forget he is from Scotland. Here he is Jacques, gruff and anti-social owner of the Oyster Bar, which quit serving food after an oyster killed a customer for the prior owner, so now he only serves alcoholic drinks. In his quirkiness he has 3 rules ... no "walk-ins", no women, and no being nice to customers. He has had several heart attacks and presently finds himself sharing a hospital room with Lucas.Jacques finds himself on the heart donor list, but believes he will die soon. So his bright idea is to bring Lucas into his bar and spartan upstairs apartment, train him to run the business, then give it to him when he dies.I believe there is a good movie within the framework of that plot, but it isn't the one they made. Too negative most of the time, too dark and depressing, and with an ending that the filmmakers must have thought, "Here's an ironic way to make all this come together." SPOILERS: Lucas is a slow learner, by the standards that Jacques has set. With too much empathy for others, he takes in a French Flight Attendant who is afraid to fly anymore, and she asks him to marry her right away so she will have a residence. He does, and all this just infuriates Jacques more. But in the end, Jacques softens up, still has a bad heart and, when the duck being fattened for the holidays escapes to the street, Lucas is hit and killed, his "good heart" goes to Jacques, who we see recuperating on a tropical beach.

Over the past two to three years, Iceland has mostly made news because of its economic meltdown and because of an unpronounceable volcano. Well, I would say that Dagur Kári's movie "The Good Heart" shows that the island still has a lot to offer us.The movie tells the story of Jacques (Brian Cox) and Lucas (Paul Dano). Jacques is a short-tempered bartender who suffers a heart attack and is put in a hospital bed next to the derelict Lucas. Jacques decides to take Lucas under his wing and teach him the bar-tending business. Although not the nicest person, Jacques is determined to give Lucas a good life. But when Lucas takes unemployed flight attendant April (Isild Le Besco) his wing, the story gets started on an irreversible path.The movie has really good character development. Just watching Jacques on the screen made me feel as if I was walking on eggshells. It certainly gave me an idea of what it must be like to be a bartender and have to deal with certain kinds of people every day. Even though Jacques is kind of nasty as a person, we understand why he's like this, and by extension get a sense of what Lucas and April have to put up with.Like I said, it was a real surprise that much of the funding for "The Good Heart" came from Iceland, and that much of the crew and cast is from the North Atlantic island*. This movie could be seen as the manifestation of Ísland's** potential return from its economic collapse during the past few years. I strongly recommend "The Good Heart" and wish Iceland the best. Lofsöngur! *Many of the names employed the letter thorn, written Þ (upper case) and þ (lower case).**That's Iceland's name in Icelandic.

Brian Cox & Paul Dano are a remarkable pairing in a film that doesn't really accomplish much, but somehow remains okay. Jacques, a bitter bartender looking for someone to carry on his legacy stumbles upon Lucas, a homeless young adult who is hopelessly giving. The pairing between the two is what allows the film to float above complete disaster, as their on screen chemistry elevates the otherwise nonexistent storyline to a level slightly beyond entriguing. As Jacques determines to break the kid and turn him into a "proper bartender", one who does not help people but destroys them, he finds a kid unwilling to bend in his giving ways. This changes Jacques, but the seeds of contempt Jacques has planted within Lucas in his "lessons of life" rub a lot deeper. This movie would've easily gotten an 8 had it ended about 5 minutes earlier. I must say that there was a scene in the beginning where I knew exactly what would happen at the end of the film, and this not only cripples any film revolving around this as a plot device, it destroys the very purpose of the entire piece. The only reason to watch this film is Brian Cox & Paul Dano's amazing on screen chemistry, and that alone places this film slightly above palatable.