HEARTS IN ATLANTIS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
CAPSULE: In 1960 an eleven-year-old forms a friendship with an elderly man who boards at his house. Scott Hicks directs with a great deal of period feel. Anthony Hopkins stars as the mysterious Ted Brautigan. The story is told sentimentally and well until the script or perhaps the story falters in the final reel. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
Stephen King made his reputation on writing horror and that still seems to be the major portion of his output. These days, however, the films made from his horror stories are definitely of secondary quality to those that do not have strong fantasy content. King is better when he concentrates on human drama than on the supernatural. This film based on only one part of his novel HEARTS IN ATLANTIS basically ignores most, though not all, of the fantasy elements of the book.
Robert Garfield (played by David Morse) is a photographer returning to the neighborhood where he grew up. He is visiting the funeral of a childhood friend. He asks about Carol Gerber, the girl who was the other close friend, only to discover that she had recently passed away. Robert thinks back to 1960 when he was eleven. Bobby (played just a little too maturely by Anton Yelchin) lived with his widowed mother. Then boarder Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) comes to live with the Garfields. Though his mother takes an immediate dislike to him, for Bobby the boarder opens up new worlds. Ted turns Bobby onto the world of literature and forever changes Bobby's outlook on the world.
Bobby and Ted's relationship is made difficult by Bobby's mother (Hope Davis), a woman who makes all the wrong decisions in her own life and blames the result on others. She has poisoned Bobby's mind against his dead father suspects the worst of Ted. Bobby's mother is right about Ted in at least one regard. There is something not normal about the recluse. He seems to have psychic powers that tell him things about the future. And Ted is on the run from men who know about those powers and want to use them. The book's fantasy element is much reduced in the William Goldman (MARATHON MAN, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) adaptation of one section of the book by Stephen King. Scott Hicks who directed SHINE and SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS directs here. In general his style is nostalgic and romanticized, though he somewhat unimaginatively creates a lot of the mood by playing the popular music of the 1960 period. Also though the cars we see seem a bit old for the setting. Goldman's or King's view of the "good kids" is a little too Simon Pure and cliched as he follows them down railroad tracks and swimming at the local water hole, slaking their thirsts with the carton of milk they brought along. Nobody I remember was that good a kid. Once he has lulled us into this idyllic view of 1960 the introduction of some nasty violence in the latter part of the film comes as something of a shock.
HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is a Castle Rock Entertainment production. They do the best adaptations of Stephen King, including the now classic THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is a cut below that film, but still a good production. I rate it 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper