arthurdaley69 'Heartlands' is a British made bittersweet tale of an ordinary guy, Colin, who is abandoned as his wife runs off to Blackpool with a copper (Colins local darts team captain and best mate to boot).The tag line reads - an epic journey......on a small scale - and thats quite apt.Michael Sheen is really good as Colin, very different role from Clough in 'The Damned United' or Frost in 'Frost/Nixon'. Loads of well known actors involved including Mark Addy (Dave in 'The Full Monty' & more recently Friar Tuck in 'Robin Hood') Ruth Jones (Nessa from 'Gavin & Stacey'), Celia Imrie ('Dinnerladies' etc etc), and another from 'Gavin & Stacy' - a very young looking James Corden is a member of the darts team although he has practically no lines.The wife and her lover are a right pair of selfish creeps and while he was making his epic journey to win her back - on his Honda 50 - I had the sinking feeling of an inevitable cheesy happy ending. Much to my surprise about half way through, the film shifted in tone a little and a variety of possible endings appear. I think the one they went with works as it wasn't the one I feared but neither was it the one I expected.

Drifteral99 I took a chance on buying this DVD after hearing that Kate Rusby featured heavily on the soundtrack. I like her English folk music style, and as a bonus she actually appears as 'the turn' at a motor-bike rally.A gathering of bikers , camping next to a pub as happens every spring and summer weekend somewhere in Britain.The film is set around South Yorkshire, I think at first, or perhaps even North Nottinghamshire. A faded pit town, somewhere Mansfield or a dozen others.The action moves on to places like Castleton in Derbyshire, and the area around Penistone, between Barnsley and Manchester. Ranging from quite bleak moorland to softer more rolling hills and trees.Colin is well portrayed as a simple man of relatively few words. The ones which spring from his lips invariably involve darts. His passion.The villain of the piece is a nasty copper, again well acted and the conniving Constable is after Colin's missus.Mrs.Col, and the copper take off to Blackpool,the 'Las Vegas of the North' and our hero sets off after them on his trusty Honda fifty (step-thru motorbike). The people he meets along thew way, from a predictably friendly group of bikers (the slightly mickey taking reception he got here was overstated)to a letcherous pub landlord really form the heart of the plot. He stumbles across a pack of Brownies on a camping trip, and , rather unlikely is instantly accepted.The scene where Col's bike is 'taken out was brilliantly shot & totally believable. Though having done a lot of motor-cycling myself his attire was less than adequate for his 'epic' trip.All the characters, with just one or two exceptions were very likable. From Mandy the overweight barmaid, disillusioned with her lover, and a mother of a cheeky wee actress who brilliantly captured a rebellion in the making, to Colin's wife. She had made a mistake in leaving him, and admitted it, would he have her back?I should have known anything involving Rusby's music would have a northern English flavour. The essence of the region, from stark beauty, to down at heel urban industry is here for all to see.Blackpool, the tacky town with such a proud heritage was filmed sympathetically, yet realistically.All in all a film which improves the more I think about it. I shall watch this several times I think. I really, and heartily recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for working class Brtiain.

lexy_dupont A character study about a man who has to rebuild his life after his well-ordered and rather narrow world falls apart, Heartlands is charming and poignant, if a little slow-paced. The movie looks beautiful, with richly colored shots of some absolutely gorgeous bits of the countryside of northern England, and has a brilliant soundtrack that is mostly English folk music, with a few well-chosen exceptions. (Look for the cameo by folk singer Kate Rusby.) There are good performances by all the cast members, lead by Michael Sheen as the good-natured but naive Colin, who comes into his own after leaving his dull, stifling home town (and the "friends" who take advantage of him) behind.

Adam Brosnan I was recommended this film by a chap who doesn't watch a lot of films, so i expected it to be not great. However I really enjoyed it,the film reminded me of a book that i read called the alchemist, which was about a boy who is searching for something and realises at the end that he had already found through the journey what he was looking for.This film has a very similar premise and thats what the film is about the journey to blackpool, how you can change your life in a small amount of time and how you can learn things from other people.All the characters in the film are warm and all have a different perception on life. The main character also seems to learn something from each of them. Its quite a clever little film. If you've seen everything you want to see then give this film a chance I reckon you'll like it