Purely Joyful Movie!

Excellent, a Must See

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Junkhearts is a gritty film set in London that starts promisingly but gets derailed due to poor execution and a muddled and derivative screenplay.Frank (Eddie Marsan) is a reclusive ex-soldier, drunk and suffering from post traumatic stress as he is haunted by his past. He takes in a young homeless girl Lynette (Candese Reid) when she is having a spot of bother outside an off licence and she stays at his shabby flat.At first they strike up a tentative friendship but then her boyfriend Danny turns up and also moves into the flat before long there is sex, drugs, alcohol and partying and Frank is like a prisoner in his own flat and it looks like Lynette has used him.I just wanted Frank to knock Danny's lights out but what we get is a dreary melodrama which stems into a cliché ridden thinly plotted mess.

A great film with original characters and distinct empathy for those we forget to care about. refreshing and original performances from the cast with each drawing you into their respective perspectives and conflicts The film progresses with expert subtlety and authenticity that affords the audience the opportunity to develop an opinion on the controversial and intimate aspects.But it does not sugar coat or hold back; the plot development was artfully punctuated with a strategic deployment of the quietly powerful moments and the raw and chargedI'm loving these gems of contemporary British cinema

Frank, who normally plays slimy little mobsters is totally miscast in this - He just looks like a slimy little mobster, not an ex squaddie.The acting in most part is pretty banal, almost like a home movie.The believability of this movie is even worse - I mean come on..... an alcoholic buying 3 miniature bottles of whisky and a kids magazine for 18 pounds 50! Give me a break - This stuff looks like it was made by a 6th form film study group trying to justify some sort of interracial bonding between troubled souls - it just doesn't work - this rubbish will never get any major screenings, it will be lucky if it even gets to DVD! The self defence course in the park.... "Transfer the weight transfer the weight" was frankly embarrassing to watch.Have film makers simply run out of ideas? Is there nothing original around these days - Better off going and watching a really decent movie like Full Metal Jacket, Bad Santa or any number of movies made 20 years ago with at least a bit of class.Sorry, this movie does not deserve the 7.4 score on IMDb, it is claptrap.

I've just seen Junkhearts at Chapter Arts centre in Cardiff. I saw Junkhearts solely because I'm a big fan of Eddie Marsan and wanted to see him in a lead role, as I think he's a fantastic actor with a great range and a lightness of touch. As expected Eddie Marsan was fantastic, here playing an ex-solider, and brought a freshness to quite a now archetypal character. Familiar as this archetype is, the character is normally played out in a flat depressed state that flies off the handle at a moments notice. Instead the director Tinge Krishnan chooses to create a distance between the character of Frank and everybody else, in terms of the acting, the cropped framing, the use of negative space, and specific points of focus, which works really effectively. Within Junkhearts we are also introduced to newcomer Candese Reid, who was found at Nottingham's Television Workshop – famous for Paddy Considine and the This Is England cast. Her character Lynette works her way under Frank's emotional barrier, fully realised in a spine-tingling scene where Frank cracks his first smile we've seen, bathed in gorgeous sun light. The performances of Frank and Lynette felt truthful and authentic and I felt sympathetic to each character and that's a testament to the director. Furthermore, the execution of the script really engaged me throughout. It was incredibly shot by Catherine Derry, I loved the self-defence/dance scene seeped in sunflare, the lovely bokeh in the bar scene with Shaun Dooley and Romola Garai, the bleak scenes in and around the tower block and lifts, the uncomfortable framing with Eddie when he's having flashbacks, the lovely slow-motion when he dances, and I loved the practical lighting, and the strip lighting inside the flat. If you like the work of Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Mike Leigh, and Shane Meadows, Junkhearts could be right up your street. One to watch in 2012.