Hearts in Atlantis is a 2001 movie, based on some short works by Stephen King and featuring Anthony Hopkins. I would say it is a slice-of-life movie with elements of personal growth and with some shades of the supernatural or the surreal (typical in King’s works, although not as accentuated in this case).
The story is essentially a flashback. The protagonist receives the news of a dear childhood friend’s death; he returns to his hometown in Atlantis and after the funeral he visits his old house. The voice of the narrator seems sad and even melancholic, almost as if he is brooding and wallowing in his own thoughts and past. It is possibly a twilight between nostalgia and bad memories; these recollections take form in his mind and become part of the movie as he reminisce on the time when a new neighbor moved in the detached upstairs apartment. This neighbor is of course interpreted by Anthony Hopkins and his charm as an enigmatic elder man who seldom speaks about books and a world unknown by the eleven-year-old protagonist create his character; his calm and soothing voice make up for part of the mystery he evokes.
A note might be added on the fact that Anthony Hopkins also portrays a character that is possibly a medium or a psychic, a man who has some sort of visions (or better yet simply a different insight on things). He is possibly being chased by the government for being a spy; this does create part of the plot and it is indeed that kind of enigmatic element that King plays with, but it is less important in my point of view.
Probably one of the few minor things that did not convince me as much in the entirety of the movie were some of the dialogues: they are fantastically written for someone as Hopkins, but seem somewhat forced for an eleven-year-old.
One aspect that I would like to analyze is nostalgia. The movie succeeds in evoking the past through music: some of the classic hits from the ’50 and the ’60 constitute a worthy soundtrack. Examples are Only you (and you alone) by The Platters, Come fly with me by James Darren and Sh-Boom (Life could be a dream) by The Crew Cuts. The songs just fit perfectly with the narration in spite of the fact that they are happy tunes, unlike the general themes that are less so. Subtle quotes of great authors are delivered by Anthony Hopkins and mark a more bleak connection with the past and with nostalgia: “We are all time’s captives, hostages to eternity” (Boris Pasternak) and “Ben Johnson called time the old bald cheater” are good examples.
Talking about leitmotifs, as much as nostalgia is important, a more interesting point to discus would be the relationship between the eleven-year-old protagonist and his parents. It is uncertain if his father died or left, what is clear is that the mother has to struggle to raise him while also having an abusive boss. The hardships she faces are only partially explored, but they are certainly present; for this reason, it is unclear whether she lied to the child about his father being a bad man and a gambler (or a nice guy as others tell him). Anthony Hopkins, the old neighbor who pays the kid to read for him, as his eyesight is not what it used to be, is almost a replacement for the father figure. It is a story of lives that intertwine and that is mainly why I would refer to the movie as a slice-of-life: the difficult relationship between the protagonist and his mother and the half-truths or half-lies are also part of the dynamic of a family. When the old neighbor is taken away, although times goes on and everything returns to normal while people and lives move on, the sadness in the protagonist’s voice for “loosing” yet another father figure resounds within all of us, and in my opinion, that is what makes the movie a good watch.
I would give this a feeble 8 out of 10 “we’re all just passing through, kiddo”.