Movie Scene
Intrigue, fine acting course through 'Hearts'

By Mike Clark
USA Today

Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis, Mika Boorem, David Morse Director: Scott Hicks Distributor: Warner Bros. Rating: PG-13 for violence and thematic elements

Yet William Goldman's grabber of a script, nicely cobbled from two King short stories, needs more storytelling zeal and sense of wonder than it gets from director Scott Hicks, who really needs to loosen up. He directed the overrated Shine and DOA Snow Falling on Cedars, which at least means Hearts is his best outing to date.

Mannered or not, the picture works because Hicks gets exemplary performances from his leads. Anthony Hopkins has a tailor-made role, Hope Davis a provocative one and child actor Anton Yelchin is instantly appealing as a lonely 11-year-old who finds the attention he craves from the new guy upstairs. And in a sentimental movie told in flashback, art director Mark Worthington convinces us that even poverty (or the closest thing to it) can, at minimum, look pretty in foliage-filled 1960 Connecticut.

Resentful widow Davis and Yelchin take in a mysterious boarder she immediately distrusts but her young son soon comes to love. In pursuit by men from his murky past, Hopkins' character makes a psychic connection with the boy he comes to mentor i a gift that pays dividends when Yelchin has to best town bullies.

Davis is intriguing as the antithesis of those clean-cut, perfect moms from 1960s TV; she's financially strapped and frustrated by the town's miserable pool of eligible men. Mother and son don't get along, and a major strength here is that we sympathize with both sides.

The movie itself, however, is nearly as uptight as mom, and you get the sense that each scene was laid out in some rigid blueprint. The soundtrack leans on accurate period pop music but also on tunes from 1954-55, as if oldies stations were around back then (unlikely). And Judy Garland's A Star Is Born shows up on a color TV when only the most well-heeled had color sets (and before black-and-white prints of Star were even available for broadcast).

But don't underestimate the appeal of a heart-tugger that's this well mounted. (The photography is by the late Piotr Sobocinski i of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Red i who died earlier this year at 43.) It's clear that many involved were trying to make a movie that might touch someone.

When you look at the past several weeks, that puts Hearts in an exclusive club.

On the web:
• Official website