Paul Evans Jamie lives at home with his mum on a housing estate in London, it's a fairly troubled part of the city. Jamie is very handsome, but lacks confidence, due to a heart shaped birth mark on his face. One evening Jamie's at a bus shelter with his mum when a group attack them, burning his mum alive in front of him. A series of events lead Jamie to a demon who promises anything for a returned favour of chaos. Jamie asks for his birth mark to be removed, and arises perfect. One of the Demon's servants arrives at Jamie's house and demands a brutal murder as payment.Each time I watch this film I'm blown away by just how imaginative it is, it manages to be profound, dark, engaging, funny and scary, Philip Ridley did an incredible job directing this. It's very much a film of two halves, the first a bit slower in tone, plenty of character development, the second a lot darker, posing plenty of moral questions.Jim Sturgess is brilliant in the title role. Joseph Mawle is insanely creepy as Papa B, such an enormously talented man. Clémence Poésy is good, and Timothy Spall's small role at the end show's his calibre.The mind is a wonderful thing, clearly his had masked some terrible goings on in his life. I think the definite message coming out of this film is beauty is inside, not what's on the surface.A film not to be missed, it takes you to some dark places, but is certainly rewarding. 8/10

dandbone I think this was a good horror. It was well done and the main characters were fleshed out properly. You were under the impression they were regular people, just like your neighbors. The protagonist is a twenty something year old photographer who still lives with his mom. Unlike his brother, he is far from assertive because he has lived all his life with the nickname "Elephant Man" on account of his very visible and disfiguring birthmark.His life seems uneventful until a gang attacks him and his mom and kills her. Then an hour or so of great horror follows, and lasts almost until the end. But, I think in the last 20 minutes or so, the screenwriter (or the studio) chickened out. So, they started to inject ambiguity in the story. Ambiguity is not bad in itself, but in horror, it might kill an otherwise great movie. And they picked the worst kind of ambiguity. The one that says: "well, it was mostly in his head. See? London is still there." Great horror doesn't take prisoners. Well, it did have a horror ending, but not the kind with death and despair, but the kind with a little personal redemption.

Armand Faust pact, demons, Devil, Jim Sturgess, warm Timothy Spall. an old story, crumbs of romanticism, good intentions. and presence of Indian child as flame, protector, daughter, help. result - not impressive movie. but touching. not very profound. but sensitive. a story about price of desire, love and happiness. about structure of abdication. in front - the heart. like birthmark on face. as first murder to pay a fake gift. to begin a fight. against yourself. it is shadow of delicate beauty. map of contemporary world. explication. for violence, hate, fear, temptations. and testimony about profound liaisons. a good work. an old story.and, maybe, occasion to meditate about small things - heart of existence.

scoup I don't mind a film where the ending is left open for interpretation or ambiguity causes an internal dialog and we need to delve deeper in the movie for answers.I felt that Heartless was too weak here. There were many variables and unexplained characters and motives. What was the little girl? I have 3-4 opinions on who she was, but those are just too many to keep the movie flowing.I've just read through other's opinions and reviews. I would love to hear the definitive answer so I could better judge this movie.Acting was good with Sturgess being able to carry well. I liked the setting and mood.Worth viewing but you have more questions than answers.