A rare gem for those willing to search it out.
Director: Sarah Adina Smith/2017
In addition to Hounds of Love, another smaller but rewarding film is making its way to theaters like the Alamo Drafthouse this weekend. If you have seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, then try to find Buster’s Mal Heart, the second film from writer/director Sarah Adina Smith.
Buster’s Mal Heart is an unclassifiable film that is one part mystery, one part thriller, one part mind-bender, and one part sci-fi. The reward of the film is working out what is going on as this story jumps from visions, the present, and the past, slowly revealing pieces of the puzzle to Buster’s life and the actions that have led him to two possible present realities, or is it?
Films like this are very rare, and to be sure, they are not always for everyone. But for those who it will connect with, it is a diamond in the rough, falling in the cracks and corners of the emerging summer blockbuster film season where smaller films become harder and harder to find. But it is worth searching out this treasure.
Buster is played masterfully by Rami Malek (Mr. Robot). When we first meet Buster, he is a heavily bearded, long-haired fugitive on the run from many men with shotguns. As the film progresses, we see that he is a man lost at sea, calculating how long it has been since he has eaten a meal, forced to drink his own urine to stay alive as he bakes in the heat. He was also a family man named Jonah, working at a mountainous Montana hotel as the night concierge, struggling to support his wife Marty (Kate Lyn Sheil) and his precious daughter, as they live with his wife’s family trying to save up for a place of their own.
The long nights at work, and the tiring days of watching his daughter while his wife goes to work has Buster sleep deprived and being influenced by random infomercials that come on late at night while he at work describing an impending catastrophic event on the horizon that is going to cause an “inversion” of our entire world and way of life.
Around this time, a mysterious drifter (DJ Qualls) appears. He seems to confirm the impending doomsday scenarios Buster is buying in to. Not only that, he claims to be a prophet of the coming “inversion” and begins to teach Buster more about this catastrophic event. When a family tragedy occurs, Buster takes one or two different paths in how he deals with the fallout. It is up to you to decide what path he took and what that means for his possible redemption of his “mal” heart.
Sarah Adina Smith does a strong job of keeping the narrative flowing and the audience guessing as Buster’s tale is unveiled. The script, while largely a serious affair, does manage some moments of humor and levity. Rami Malek is able to demonstrate his range in how he holds himself in tension between the pain and rage he is feeling on the inside following his tragedy, with the “nice criminal” actions he exhibits as the long-haired mountain man breaking into to the vacation homes around the mountain. Rami Malek was cast in this film just before getting the role on Mr. Robot, so in many ways you are seeing his depth as an actor before taking on the critically acclaimed role in that series, even though the release dates between the two were reversed.
As Jonah, Buster, is constantly dogged by the feelings of inadequacy. On one hand, he believes that he has truly won life’s lottery by having a wife and a daughter that love him, and that he loves back. On the other hand, he describes to the drifter how his heart has always been bad, and it causes him to feel undeserving of such blessings. And like the prophet Jonah in the Bible, he is oft ready to run from this sacred calling of family as it clashes with his truer malevolent nature. Those around him continue to challenge and pray for him to give his “heart to God”, and the two paths he goes down following his tragedy seem to be the struggle to do just that, or to fully give himself to his own human nature and personal demons, risking his own personal destruction. He will have his “time in the belly of the whale”, but when he is finally spit out, what will he find waiting for him on the other side?
Films like this are very rare, and to be sure, they are not always for everyone. But for those who it will connect with, it is a diamond in the rough, falling in the cracks and corners of the emerging summer blockbuster film season where smaller films become harder and harder to find. But it is worth searching out this treasure.
Theaters such as the Alamo Drafthouse, Landmark, and other art-house type theaters are great places to find stories that are smaller, and often more engaging. Buster’s Mal Heart is a film that will and should be playing at these types of places, and be sure to thank them for offering them. The best way to thank them, is to go, buy a ticket, and enjoy this film.
