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Once in awhile a movie comes along that just feels good. Nothing out of the ordinary really happens. There are no big explosions, no high body count, nothing really suspenseful, no great love scene, nothing all that funny, not a lot of action, just superb writing and magical acting that takes those words off the page and brings it all to life. Steven King’s, Hearts in Atlantis, is one of those shining films. This movie comes to life on the silver screen with the resplendent Anthony Hopkins of Hannibal fame, as Ted Brautigan a psychic savant that is constantly on the move from one plebeian town to another. In this coming of age movie Hopkins befriends the young Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin) whom lives down stairs, and we share in their magical summer. When this film started I almost thought it was the wrong picture because we are first introduced to the adult Robert Garfield (David Morse from Proof of Life) an author now and he takes us back to that childhood summer in the early 1960’s. Now that we have journeyed back about forty years we meet Bobby on his 11th birthday. His mother (Hope Davis, Mumford) gives him a library card, not just any card but the adult card. Why such a gift you ask, well because it didn’t cost her anything and she doesn’t waste anytime reminding Bobby that his father died and left her with enormous debts, a lapsed life insurance policy and no way of paying all those bills. But she did manage to get those paid off, slowly. Maybe she could have paid them off a little faster if she didn’t spend so much money on clothes and perfume for herself. I believed her when she said she really would have liked to buy him a bike. Why such a big deal about the library card? Bobby really had his heart set on a bike. His pretty girlfriend Carol (Mika Boorem from The Patriot) gave him a card with a bike on it though. This was also the day Mr. Brautigan moved in upstairs. His mother immediately took a dislike to him because she doesn’t trust people that move their things around in paper bags or mismatched luggage. Bobby spent that first evening getting to know his new neighbor because his mother canceled his birthday dinner. Mr. Brautigan then hired Bobby to read him his paper everyday and keep an eye out for the “lowmen” that were out to get him. This is a beautiful coming of age story with self-realization for Bobby’s mother, but also about Bobby’s friendship with Carol and Mr. Brautigan. This movie intrigues you and makes you remember your childhood with fondness. I don’t want to give you too many details about the plot because that would ruin the movie for you. King wrote the novel and William Goldman wrote the screenplay. The director of Hearts in Atlantis was Scott Hicks. For a simple little story line, this movie has a lot of life and heart. The heart of a lion I should say. I give this film a 10 on the About-Movies.com scale. Bu bye
Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:37 PM Click Here to get back into frames.
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