HEARTBEATS (2010)
Running Time: 95 mins. Rating: 1 Star/5 Stars
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Xavier Dolan
Genre: Drama/Romance
Country: Canada
Language: French w/English subtitles
Distributor: IFC Films
Cast: Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval
Gregg Araki meets Mumblecore, Quebec-style, with an homage to the Nouvelle Vague by Canada’s latest quadruple threat director/writer/producer/actor Xavier Dolan. The soundtrack, particularly Dalida’s ‘Bang Bang’, is mainly the only reason to see the film.
A gay guy and his fag hag girlfriend both lust after a pansexual, banal game player, in a Mutual Of Omaha-like situation featuring sexually confused 20 something college grads adrift in hipster Montreal. As expected in films like this, everyone is left sexually unfulfilled and frustrated.
The film features super annoying camerawork. Zoom in, zoom out, schizophrenic jump cuts that make no sense and do nothing to move the story along. Pretentious dialogue from university lit class with semiotic theory thrown into the blender, I mean word processor, for good measure rounds out the film’s attempt at narrative storytelling.
If you like this recommendations: Kaboom, Jules & Jim, Law Of Desire