'Heartlands' has a storyline packed with clever humour
Heartlands
Damien O'Donnell
Jim Carter, Michael Sheen, Mark Addy, Ruth Jones, Celia Imrie
15.
We have here a delightful film which proves, yet again, that you don't need special effects if you have a well-constructed script.
It's one of those low-key little films which suddenly grabs you and carries you along. There is not a thing about it that annoys or distracts you. It is almost perfect in its understanding of the human condition.
The storyline revolves around a week in the life of mild-mannered Colin, who lives with his cheating wife in a small Northern English town. And it is a storyline packed with clever humour and performances of gemlike quality. It has its moments of pathos, its moments when you long for Colin to realise what's going on around him; but there are many more moments when you simply wallow in the sheer charm of a tale well told, a tale of an emotional journey taken with laughter.
O'Donnell handles all of this with a deft certainty and a deep understanding of how to pace out a film and when to delight us with a release of sparkling wit.
5/5
