Search - Lonely Hearts on DVD

Frank E. (realartist) from HENDERSONVLLE, NC
Reviewed on 3/14/2010...

Now this was interesting. One would thin, "my..a period piece"...although it was not intended to be..it just is a period piece, circa late 70's...chick out the "mod haircuts" - ala Beatles "Rubber Soul"; and the wing collar shirts, with borderline psychedelic prints. All phones are hard wired to the wall. There is a message recorder machine about the size of an FM tuner of the 70's.
This story was meant to be 'cinema verite', or such a slice of real life...it pushes the boring meter- inasmuch as most of us lead a pretty tame life. After watching a fast paced TV drama such as "House" or "Castle"...there, one dares not allow one's attention to lapse for even a microsecond---so as not to miss the countless twists and turns to the plot. In this movie?...you can go to the kitchen and fix up a snack, come back, and you have't missed a whole lot. Here are two incredibly boring, never been married, and it's small wonder why!...try to make some similance of a relationship out of this nearly hopless Mama's boy, & Daddy's still tightly controlled girl in her 30's..female component of this...ahem... not so fiery romance! ( I have to warn people. The liner notes on the DVD claim it to be a "laugh otu loud" comedy romance...and in truth , my wife and I made endless jokes about how our sides are NOT hurting yet! )
That being said, it is interesting owing to the sheer quaintness of the thing. There is a real "mod"..thinks he's hip, thinks he's a 'director' at a local amateur theater, who pushes these two love birds into taking roles. then he proceeds to be the "director of local community theater" we have all come to detest, and never want to experience in our lives ever again. He simply delights in pushing people around, acting important, thinking he's cool, thinking he's the opulent darling of the "theaaa....tah"...and he is just a plain, unvarnished, despicable human being! ( a note of warning to all those out there who think themselves to be thespian geniuses...your stupid plays are not funny, your directing is hog swill )
But this movie...is a nice quiet evening, enjoying watching two people who, if you thought you were boring...will make you feel like a talk show host by comparison, by the time you finish pulling for something to happen between these two hopelessly, socially inept, sad sacks. It IS, after all, about the stone age days of "internet dating"...before the internet, of course..all by newspaper ad, and "telleo-phone"...yes these are Brits..or Australians...hard to tel....but it is about two people who would never meet anyone without some help. A LOT of help. Like physically placing them in bed together, and making them face one another!

Totally entertaining film.

J. Badger | Bimingham, Al | 12/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lonely Hearts is one of my all time favorite movies. Peter is approaching fifty and single. Through a matchmaking service, he meets the much younger and beautiful (but repressed) Patricia. They start dating and their lives bloom. The film is quirky, funny, and endearing. Both characters have their faults but, no matter, you will love them by the end of the movie. I hated for the film to end. I have watched it many times and it never grows old."

"Lonely Hearts" won the Best Film award from the Australian

Roberto Frangie | Leon, Gto. Mexico | 01/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While many Australian directors of the '70s and '80s repeatedly turned to period nostalgia, broad satire and Hollywood-derived thrillers, Paul Cox moved on a more personal path, quietly exploring troubled romantic relationships in modern, middle-class suburbia...



After years of making (mostly short) experimental films, Cox attracted the attention of a wider public with "Kostas," a touching account of a Greek-immigrant taxi-driver's love for an Australian divorcée... Invalidated by obviousness in its portrait of class and racial prejudice, it nevertheless paved the way for "Lonely Hearts." Again an engaging romance - this time between a middle-aged piano tuner and a shy and frigid bank clerk, introduced by computer-dating - the film's emotional honesty was heightened by a fine comedy and by a penetrating awareness of repressive parental pressures: exerting their right to live together, the lovers expectedly win their freedom...



"