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Hearts in Atlantis

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Set in Harwich, Connecticut USA in 1960, this is the story of Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin), a fatherless 11-year-old boy who is befriended by Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins), a strange man boarding in the building Bobby lives in with his mother, Elizabeth (Hope Davis). Both Bobby and Ted are threatened by outside forces; Bobby by a gang of local bullies, Ted by men in yellow jackets he believes are out to get him...

Persons of interest

Anton Yelchin .... Bobby Garfield
Anthony Hopkins .... Ted Brautigan
Hope Davis .... Elizabeth
David Morse .... Old Bobby
Mika Boorem .... Molly
Will Rothhaar .... Sully Age 11
Deirdre O'Connell .... Mrs Gerber
William Goldman .... Screenwriter
Stephen King .... Author
Scott Hicks .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film festivals:

Hearts in Atlantis official movie site
Hearts in Atlantis QuickTime movie trailers
Studios and distributors:

Castle rock Entertainment * Roadshow Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

A nice little mystery thriller that will entertain you when you're not sure what you want to see down at your local megaplex. It has some interesting characters with whom you can establish an empathic bond and some interesting situations that make those 101 minutes worthwhile.

Anthony is himself as you've seen him a dozen times before, Hope is a mother with too much stress and not enough happy memories but it's Anton who creates the most magnetic characterisation of the three: he's smart, he's vulnerable and he's funny. He's also "not quite cute enough" in that way that the Macaulay Caulkins of the world can never match, giving Bobby an added layer of realism.

Something that really grates on my nerves is the revelation that the town homophobe and bully is actually a closeted homosexual. While it's true that the worst perpetrators of anti-gay violence are often trying to compensate for fear of discovery and an excess of self-loathing, the homosexual-as-villain is a stereotype that has ruled Hollywood for far too long. There was a time when just being gay meant that the character was automatically a baddie, no questions asked. It used to be the same for the physically challenged, African-Americans, migrants, communists, divorcées, draft dodgers, unwed mothers, sexually active teenagers, reefer addicts, atheists and all those other evil perverts. In some cases, time has moved attitudes along; in others, it's as if time has stood still.

As for Ted's gift, well, it's enough of a reason to run away from the G-men, caught in the middle of "reds under the bed" fever but not enough of a reason to make a serious attempt to hide. Having access to all sorts of inside information, he didn't think to use an alias or make up a detailed fake history? Sure, there'd be no film, but it would've made things a tad more believable.