HEARTS AND BONES
***
Director: Ben Lawrence
Screenwriters: Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian
Principal cast:
Hugo Weaving
Andrew Luri
Hayley McElhinney
Bolude Watson
Alan Dukes
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 110 mins.
Australian release date: On digital from 6 May 2020 - via iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Sony PlayStation, Telstra and Fetch TV - Theatrical release commencing on 22 June 2020 - check your local cinema listings.
Hearts and Bones is the first dramatic feature from Ben Lawrence, director of the 2018 award-winning documentary Ghosthunter. Utilising the talents of some of the same crew that worked on that film, particularly DoP Hugh Miller and composer Rafael May, the director/co-writer has fashioned an intricate tale of family and friendship and the profound effects of war on those who are subjected to it, willingly or otherwise. Set and filmed in western Sydney, the movie is a revealing look at a different side of Australian suburban life to that which is depicted in most Aussie dramas. Local politicians constantly bang on about immigration and multiculturalism, either negatively or positively depending on their political biases, but rarely are we given entrée into what life is like for those who have come here from war-torn countries. Hearts and Bones addresses that absence by focussing on a refugee from South Sudan and contrasting his experiences with those of an Anglo war photographer who spent time recording the atrocities that went on during that country’s civil war.
When South Sudanese taxi driver Sebastian Aman (an amazing performance from first-time actor Andrew Luri) hears an interview conducted by Fran Kelly (as herself) with Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving), a photojournalist recently returned from assignment in Iraq, he learns that Daniel is preparing an exhibition of his work that will include images from 15 years ago of a massacre in Sebastian’s home village. The driver tracks Daniel down at his home and invites him to come and attend a meeting with a men’s choir he has begun, made up of African and Middle-Eastern men suffering from PTSD as a result of their traumatic experiences. He recognises that Daniel probably has PTSD, too, and wants to help him but he also has another reason for seeking him out - he doesn’t want the photos from South Sudan displayed. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the two men have much in common and a friendship forms between them, but their amity is severely tested when secrets from Sebastian’s past are unearthed as Daniel sorts through his photographs in preparation for the exhibition.
The two male leads in Hearts and Bones deliver beautifully realised characters. Both Sebastian and Daniel are deeply wounded by their traumatic experiences and Luri and Weaving bring them vividly to life, displaying these flawed, suffering beings in all their frailty and vulnerability. You really feel for these men as they grapple with their lives, both current and past, and their subsequent mental injuries. Both are ably supported by the women playing their spouses: Bolude Watson is excellent as Sebastian’s uncomprehending young wife Anishka, his second marriage after his first wife was killed during the civil war. She knows little of her husband’s past and just wants to make a secure and happy home for her family in their new country; and Hayley McElhinney nails Daniel’s partner Josie, a woman who’s trying to do much the same thing as Anishka. She’s grappling with her own demons as well as Daniel’s and can’t understand his inability (or refusal) to settle down and raise a family. Hugh Miller’s observational-style of shooting captures these domestic scenes as though he’s filming a documentary and it serves the material well.
Lawrence and Christian’s screenplay is dense and multi-layered but it tries to do a bit too much and suffers slightly for it. There are many reasons for Daniel’s PTSD after all he’s seen (we are witness to one of them in the film’s harrowing opening footage) and yet the script piles on even more explanations in his backstory, resulting in overkill. Hearts and Bones has a lot going for it, though - the performances, the fabulous choir, its insight into the Australian refugee community and, most of all, its humanity and heart. It’s a film that deserves to be widely seen.
Screenwriters: Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian
Principal cast:
Hugo Weaving
Andrew Luri
Hayley McElhinney
Bolude Watson
Alan Dukes
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 110 mins.
Australian release date: On digital from 6 May 2020 - via iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Sony PlayStation, Telstra and Fetch TV - Theatrical release commencing on 22 June 2020 - check your local cinema listings.
Hearts and Bones is the first dramatic feature from Ben Lawrence, director of the 2018 award-winning documentary Ghosthunter. Utilising the talents of some of the same crew that worked on that film, particularly DoP Hugh Miller and composer Rafael May, the director/co-writer has fashioned an intricate tale of family and friendship and the profound effects of war on those who are subjected to it, willingly or otherwise. Set and filmed in western Sydney, the movie is a revealing look at a different side of Australian suburban life to that which is depicted in most Aussie dramas. Local politicians constantly bang on about immigration and multiculturalism, either negatively or positively depending on their political biases, but rarely are we given entrée into what life is like for those who have come here from war-torn countries. Hearts and Bones addresses that absence by focussing on a refugee from South Sudan and contrasting his experiences with those of an Anglo war photographer who spent time recording the atrocities that went on during that country’s civil war.
When South Sudanese taxi driver Sebastian Aman (an amazing performance from first-time actor Andrew Luri) hears an interview conducted by Fran Kelly (as herself) with Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving), a photojournalist recently returned from assignment in Iraq, he learns that Daniel is preparing an exhibition of his work that will include images from 15 years ago of a massacre in Sebastian’s home village. The driver tracks Daniel down at his home and invites him to come and attend a meeting with a men’s choir he has begun, made up of African and Middle-Eastern men suffering from PTSD as a result of their traumatic experiences. He recognises that Daniel probably has PTSD, too, and wants to help him but he also has another reason for seeking him out - he doesn’t want the photos from South Sudan displayed. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the two men have much in common and a friendship forms between them, but their amity is severely tested when secrets from Sebastian’s past are unearthed as Daniel sorts through his photographs in preparation for the exhibition.
The two male leads in Hearts and Bones deliver beautifully realised characters. Both Sebastian and Daniel are deeply wounded by their traumatic experiences and Luri and Weaving bring them vividly to life, displaying these flawed, suffering beings in all their frailty and vulnerability. You really feel for these men as they grapple with their lives, both current and past, and their subsequent mental injuries. Both are ably supported by the women playing their spouses: Bolude Watson is excellent as Sebastian’s uncomprehending young wife Anishka, his second marriage after his first wife was killed during the civil war. She knows little of her husband’s past and just wants to make a secure and happy home for her family in their new country; and Hayley McElhinney nails Daniel’s partner Josie, a woman who’s trying to do much the same thing as Anishka. She’s grappling with her own demons as well as Daniel’s and can’t understand his inability (or refusal) to settle down and raise a family. Hugh Miller’s observational-style of shooting captures these domestic scenes as though he’s filming a documentary and it serves the material well.
Lawrence and Christian’s screenplay is dense and multi-layered but it tries to do a bit too much and suffers slightly for it. There are many reasons for Daniel’s PTSD after all he’s seen (we are witness to one of them in the film’s harrowing opening footage) and yet the script piles on even more explanations in his backstory, resulting in overkill. Hearts and Bones has a lot going for it, though - the performances, the fabulous choir, its insight into the Australian refugee community and, most of all, its humanity and heart. It’s a film that deserves to be widely seen.
