Buster's Mal Heart

This is a visually striking film with an amazing plot. It took some time for me to fully understand this film but once you understand it, it will stick with you for a long time. Rami Malek's performance is flawless and minimalistic. If you're obsessed with filmmaking and cinematography you will appreciate this to its full potential.

After a first watch, it's difficult to characterise or rate this movie. Certainly intriguing and engaging, the viewing experience is mind-bending. The atmosphere is a weird mix of claustrophobia, psychedelia and human drama. The movie explores ideas around sanity, reality, imprisonment and the quest for freedom. It comes over as sensitive and real on a human level, alternately touching, tragic, funny, sad, depressing, chilling, and strangely inspiring. The main character gives a brilliant portrayal of an altered state of consciousness. The meaning and story of the movie are expressed in a very unconventional way; non-linear, disorientating and confusing - which I'm sure was intentional. The experience is rather psychedelic, and there isn't quite enough logical substance to really carry the viewer to a satisfactory conclusion, but this might change with a rewatch, when the rating might go up.

What a weird movie. And that is not just because of the time line, but because of the main character and his .. well way to "freedom" I guess. It really is messy and I'm not just talking about his "future" self, that seems to have gone a different path than his former self. And we do jump back and forth, which makes the movie more interesting. I imagine having our main character be in one mindset for a longer period of time - that might have taken some of the tension out of the movie and make it boring (dare I say?).

The central performance is amazing. Also DJ Qualls really surprised me, being quite humorless and just being as serious as possible. In a good way that is, in case I wasn't clear. And that is what makes the movie really enticing, but you really have to have patience ...

I only have a vague idea of what I just watched, but whatever it was was extremely well done. Sarah Adina Smith definitely has a brain 4 times the size of mine.

There are definitely different ways to approach this film. It can be darkly comic, but at its core, it's a tragedy with one actor at the center of it who is ready to give it his all. Malek has become a star due to his TV series, Mr. Robot, and here he gets an opportunity to shine even further. The lead character is a tricky one, balancing different story lines and timelines and personality traits while still having to be consistent in characterization. It's not hard to see why Malek was cast here. He has such a bubbling intensity and forceful acting style that comes across natural while leaving a lasting impression, and that's exactly what he does here.