SYNOPSICS
Hearts in Atlantis (2001) is a English movie. Scott Hicks has directed this movie. Anthony Hopkins,Anton Yelchin,Hope Davis,Mika Boorem are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Hearts in Atlantis (2001) is considered one of the best Drama,Mystery movie in India and around the world.
This is a gentle, innocent movie about the reflections of an aging man (David Morse), who returns to his home town after the death of his best friend. Memories of life at age eleven floods back as it was a magical time that changed his life. Three eleven-year-old children, Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin), Carol Gerber (Mika Boorem), and John "Sully" Sullivan (Will Rothhaar), share their lives. Carol and Bobby have a special affection for one another including sharing a kiss "by which all others will be measured". Bobby lives with his mother Liz (Hope Davis), a bitter, vain woman who looks for pleasures for herself without sharing much with her son. Into their lives comes mysterious new boarder Ted Brautigan (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who befriends the boy, but generates distrust from the mother. As time passes, the man and boy share confidences, and special powers are revealed. The man warns the boy to be on the lookout for the "Low Men", who were seeking him. The two share a summer's ...
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Hearts in Atlantis (2001) Reviews
A big, fat 'wow'
For some, Stephen King is just a mere auteur of horror stories. If you look closer, you'll see he is much more. Nearly all his stories are melancholic tales about the loss of childhood innocence. With a paranormal twist, but that really isn't the most important. I even think that Hearts in Atlantis would have worked even better, if the whole paranormal thing would have been left out. The most interesting aspects of the story are Bobby Garfield and his relationship with his mother, girlfriend and Ted. Whenever Ted brought up the low-men, my personal interest curve got a bit of a dip, but hey it's a Stephen King movie, I guess we'll have to live with it. As it is, Hearts in Atlantis remains a wonderful film. It's the kind of film where the scenes in the present are filmed in gloomy blue and grey tones, and all the flashbacks get a golden sepia treatment. Sure it's been done before, but rarely have the effects been of such a shattering beauty. Anthony Hopkins, never shy of giving a bombastic performance, is remarkably soft-spoken in this one, though I doubt that he was really interested in this movie. The star of the show, however, is Anton Yelchin as Bobby Garfield. He looks like the young Elijah Wood, with the same angelic blue eyes, and he's truly captivating. He even has genuine chemistry with the girl that plays his love interest. A big fat wow' is in order here, let's hope he'll get the chance to exploit his talents further. It's a shame this movie failed at the box-office, but then again so did The Shawshank Redemption. So let's all rent/buy this wonderful film, and boost that IMDb score. I gave this one a 9/10.
"The kiss by which all others will be measured..."
Sure to be one of the best-loved films of this fall, "Hearts in Atlantis" adapted from Stephen King's best seller mines a lot of familiar territory from "Stand by Me," but that beloved film is a good model. In "Stand by Me," it was a writer reflecting back on the childhood summer "when we found the body," here it's David Morse as a photographer remembering the summer of his eleventh year "when Ted the boarder moved upstairs." Downplaying King's supernatural elements, this film slowly, but surely, builds to an emotional payoff every bit as moving as the end of Rob Reiner's gem. This is a small, gentle film with lots of character development and period atmosphere. The tech credits such as production design and cinematography are superb and bring to life a time--1960--which, for some of us, was not that long ago. The child-actors are perfectly cast, and Anthony Hopkins as the mysterious stranger gives one of his best, most-heartfelt performances. (This guy could read USA Today weather forecasts aloud and make them sound like Shakespeare.) While others may have taken a radically different approach to the material, emphasizing action and suspense, I think screenwriter William ("Misery") Goldman and director Scott ("Shine," "Snow Falling on Cedars") Hicks ultimately hit the right notes. I will interested in seeing if this decidedly low-key approach strikes a box office chord with moviegoers frazzled by the big, dumb summer action films. If there's any fairness left in the world it will. It's that good.
The wonders of youth viewed through a prism
There are two distinct dimensions to Stephen King's writing. On the one hand he is most widely known as the horror meister who can churn out novels quicker than most of us can go through toilet paper. Then there is the King who knows when to leave the schlock behind and tell a good, character driven, yarn. This is the King who penned Hearts in Atlantis, along with similar captivating stories turned into film such as Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Told in flashback, it is the story of a young boy who is mentored by a psychically gifted border (Hopkins) with a shadowy past who is renting the upstairs room in his mother's house. He instructs the boy to be on the lookout for the "low men" who are persuing him. It tells the story of lives and loves lost in the fleeting wonder of youth. Filled with metaphor, this is a gem of a film. View it for the acting. View it for the cinematography. View it for the art direction. View it for the directing. But most of all, view it for the wonderful story that it is. It will captivate you and leave you wishing it would go on forever.
Wouldn't've missed a minute of it.
To many, Stephan King is a well of horror, Lovecraftian chill that creeps upon us in the dead of night. So when his fantasy of insight comes along, they are struck blind, disappointed, let down by the mildness of the tale. Director Hicks, screenplay writer Goldman, and the superlative team of Mr. Hopkins and young Yelchin have brought alive this artist's touch of Mr. King, in a finely crafted, sensitive film that just departs from the four walls of our mundane reality. In many subtle touches throughout the film, we -- even those of us Constant Readers who would read Mr. King's laundry list if he published it -- are guided through Goldman's skillful adaptation of the original novel. Better than the book? Worse? No, this humble viewer will just say that the film can stand on its own, if we are just willing to let our eyes be opened to what can be.
An all around great film!
What can I say, they've made another great Stephen King story into another great movie. Although it doesn't hurt to have the likes of Anthony Hopkins in your film to give it that stature and elegance. This film is one of those movies where you leave sad, but yet feeling good about everything, not many movies do this, some would include American Beauty and The Green Mile. The film is set in the backdrop of the 1960's where a strange man (Anthony Hopkins) moves into the apartment above a young boy and his mother. The boy quickly befriends the stranger and soon learns about the man's mysterious gift. I won't spoil anything for anyone because this is definitely a movie worth seeing and not knowing what happens before you go into it. Also I recommend reading the book, it is truly one of Stephen King's best.