Here's a great line: Life's too short for lousy cars.This is uttered while watching his old station wagon being crushed at the junkyard.Here's a bit that's hilarious because the delivery is subtle: "It's amazing how broccoli always makes you [email protected] a way, broccoli is the embodiment of [email protected] you could capture a piece of f@rt; materialize it; I imagine it would look pretty much like broccoli.the incarnation of f@rt." The movie kept me laughing and crying throughout.

It is a drama and so-called independent film (with Icelandic screenwriter/director), but it is not oppressive, but includes plenty of comic moments. The screenplay is witty and distinct (with some predictability though) and all the cast is good (supporting actors) or excellent (leading actors Brian Cox and Paul Dano). They are masterly both together and separately, you constantly feel chemistry between them - does not matter if their characters agree or disagree.Highly recommended, although the film is not to everybody's taste: most of event occur in a bar, scenes including women are infrequent, the ending is ambivalent. But still, this film deserves far more attention, praise and distribution, primarily in northern parts of Europe and America.

The film is something between a feel-good and melancholic thoughtful movie. Sometimes, the dialog is really good, and the bar owner is great in his role.However, the movie is a little bit too much predictable in many scenes. Sometimes, it's good when a film can't be put in a specific genre. But for this one, I wish it would have been more consequent in style. It feels like the director couldn't make up his mind.For some interesting dialogs, the nice atmosphere and the great bar owner role, I give this movie 5/10.*spoiler warning* For the lack of knowledge about what happened to the stewardess and for the 5-10 silent seconds before the end-music starts playing (sometimes, it add to the atmosphere to do like that, but here it was totally wrong) I can't give it more than 5.If you don't have anything else to do, this film is OK to watch. (It's actually much better than most of what's going on the cinemas nowadays...)

I attended the North American Premiere of "The Good Heart" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Brian Cox and Paul Dano (reunited after the 2001 indie classic "L.I.E.") pull off a tour de force that left me breathless in this character piece from Icelandic writer/director Dagur Kári.The film opens with Lucas (Dano) barely eking out a living in a cardboard box under a rusty highway overpass, with only a scrawny kitten as a companion. Jacques (Cox) runs a worn old bar where he's beginning to take on its characteristics. The two meet and a classic intergenerational arc is set up that carries the film to the end.The film is dominated by a triumphant performance from Cox, one of the film world's masters. Shot primarily in one interior location, the theatrical nature of the script lends itself to playful interaction between the two leads. The chemistry between Cox and Dano began in 2001 with "L.I.E." and there's still magic in that relationship, forged over time as Dano has matured as an actor and into manhood. Interestingly, there are some references to cars and shaving which have carried over from "L.I.E." to "The Good Heart," intentional or not. Conflict is infused by the sudden appearance of April (Isild Le Besco), who forces the two to take sides even as their friendship is beginning to blossom.Shot with mostly hand-held camera by cinematographer Rasmus Videbæk, "The Good Heart's" grainy film stock, washed out colors, and natural lighting without compensation for shadows give the film an honest look. A sweet soundtrack is mostly provided by the player piano that holds a prominent place in the bar. It's a clever and amusing device.A long time in the making, "The Good Heart" spent five years in production with exteriors in New York and interiors in Iceland. Cox's introduction after the screening brought the first standing ovation of the festival.