Flying Home (also known as Racing Hearts) is a charming love story that wins your heart. It's shy. It doesn't scream at you with special effects or violence or profanity or prurient sex scenes. It takes place in an area of Belgium most Americans don't know a lot about and in the world of pigeon racing. Flanders and doves. It's safe to say you haven't been inundated with movies about Flanders and doves. Give Flying Home a chance.Colin (Jamie Dornan) is a hedge-fund hot-shot who sets out to buy a bird worth 300,000 euros on behalf of an Arab dove fancier. He finds himself in a small village in Flanders among a group of dove racing aficionados and is drawn into their world with the help of a local college student and a search for the grave of his British great-grandfather. His great-grandfather, like half a million young British soldiers, died in Flanders in World War 1. Dornan does some subtle acting here. Colin pretends to be a high school teacher so as to hide his motive for being in Flanders. His character is acting and Dornan layers his performance. A lot of it is in his eyes. Colin's authenticity does surface, especially when he's with college student Isabel. The scene where Colin and Isabel are dancing is a beautiful study of a man who is struggling with conflicting feelings. It's tricky and I have to say Dornan nails it. If you are looking for an over-actor, Dornan is not your man. He's excellent at slowly revealing the facets of Colin.Isabel is played by Flemish actress Charlotte De Bruyne. Isabel is open and direct. It's clear she likes Colin but she is not aggressive at all. She's lovely and De Bruyne is winsome in the role. It's easy to see why Colin would be drawn to Isabel, especially when you compare her to the NYC women he knows.The Flemish actors who play the village characters are all skilled and their Flemish accented English adds a lot to the atmosphere developed by the movie. The characters are not twee at all. They are individuals and for that you can thank the writer/director Dominique Deruddere. He knows how to write characters and he knows how to tell a story.Keep in mind the plot sometimes hinges on unseen action. Because of this and because the world and language (there are a few subtitled passages) of Flying Home are not so familiar to us, you have to give Flying Home your full attention. Do it. You'll be rewarded with a little gem of a movie.

Anyone with knowledge of the role Pigeoneers played in WWI and the history that pigeons played in Europe from transporting news to stock market quotes before the telegraph will enjoy this movie. Movie buffs who recall the 1940 movie "A Dispatch from Reuters" know what I mean. This of course will be missed by a lot of the younger generations.The scenes of Flanders Belgium are peaceful and charming. The acting is good. Jamie Dornan looked troubled throughout the movie, not happy being the cold-hearted businessman his father created, he becomes remorseful and takes a career destructive path to redemption. Charlotte De Bruyne has that European brightness and simple hometown charm that is perfect as a sweet girl from Flanders living with her grandfather.Make sure you use the subtitles on the DVD as some of the audio is Belgian.

I just watched this movie.I found myself binge watching The Fall and I quite enjoyed Jamie Dornan's performance there, so I decided to have a look at the rest of his work,after having watched FSOG.The movie was much better than I had expected,bearing in mind that the whole pigeon racing sounded a bit boring.It was corny I guess but again,you know that you are about to watch a romantic movie so many things can be excused I suppose.I found his performance decent and pretty acceptable and the way he coloured his characher proves that he definitely has acting skills.The photography was excellent,the rest of the cast was great as well so..If you are looking for an OK movie to spend your time and at the same time admire the looks of the main lead..there you have it!

Before watching a movie I always look out for the reviews and watch the trailer and see the comments. The trailer seemed like an okay movie and the reviews aren't really that good but I decided to give it a try because I felt like it could turn out as a good movie. Jamie Dornan was really good at his acting and I really enjoyed Charlotte De Bruyne's acting also. This movie had me really into it since the beginning and I just found it fascinating cause it also got me sentimental at some point and there a few movies that really give you that feeling. I give it a 10 and people should give it a try and see it, I totally recommend it.