This film is not an emotional roller coaster. Roller coasters take you up and down, and in loops.A roller coaster can produce a feeling of joy and excitement. This film can more symbolically be represented by a mine shaft. A mine shaft just keeps going down, and the feeling is more akin to a journey into darkness. Also, like a mine shaft, this film can feel like a lot of work. Frankly, I felt emotionally exhausted by the end of it.
Look, I'm not saying this is a bad movie; please don't misunderstand me, but it's like someone watched "The Wrestler", and thought "Wow that was good, if only it was more depressing!"
"A Heavy Heart" AKA "Herbert" AKA "The Cinematic Plunge Into One Man's Hell On Earth" isn't afraid of its subject matter (degenerative brain disease); it instead grabs you by the back of your skull and pushes your face against it saying "See, see here? This is the ugly truth. You don't like it? Well deal with it because this is just a taste of what many people have to live with."
As stated before this film shares a lot of similarities with "The Wrestler". It is a character-piece driven by an amazing performance by Peter Kurth who plays a has-been boxer.
Like "The Wrestler" this is a story about a man trying to continue his existence while grappling with his mortality.
Also, just like in the wrestler, once our protagonist learns he is dying he tries to repair the broken relationship between him and his daughter.
That's about as deep into things as I can get into the story without wandering into spoiler territory, but I would like to reiterate how amazing Peter Kurth is in this film. The man dug deep and delivered a performance I won't soon forget.
So the final verdict? I wanna give this film a higher score, but I just can't honestly do that. The last 30 minutes of the movie I found myself just waiting for it to be over already.
The performances were great, and I respect the director's commitment to style, but finishing "A Heavy Heart" began to feel like a chore towards the end.
