'Buster's Mal Heart' A Review

Buster's Mal Heart is a psychological mystery about Jonah(Rami Malek)a night clerk at a hotel with a wife and kid who becomes convinced that an apocalyptic event he calls "the inversion" is imminent. An unspecified time in the future Joanh called Buster by the authorities is hiding off the grid in the mountains hiding in vacant vacation homes. Cutting back and forth in time the film tells Jonah's story, periodically interspersed are scenes and images of Jonah in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean marooned.

Malek is compelling as the lead and is able to convey a lot of meaning and telegraph existential confusion and frustration in a way that's interesting but the role feels like a bit of a retread of his more dynamic turn from Mr. Robot. DJ Qualls as the coke snorting prophet is decent although not completely successful in evoking the air of mystery and menace that the role seems to call for. Kate Lyn Sheil as Jonah's wife Marty is the most grounded and confident, the scenes with her Malek and their daughter are easily the most interesting and the most effortless.

Visually the film is sharp, unique, and engaging. The Montana wilderness seems to be underutilized in film and this takes full advantage of the harsh but picturesque landscape. Even the interiors of the various vacation home's that are featured are framed in a way that makes them appear semi-foreign and helps enhance our connection with the lead and the film's rejection of the outside world.

There are some very thick and ambitious ideas in the film both in regards to society and spirituality but through too much abstraction and inference the point becomes almost indiscernible. And certainly that could be part of the intention, leave the audience to interrupt, however the film seems too deliberate in its sequences and images for that to be the case.

An energetic and sharp vision, clarity sacrificed for artistry.

Rent It.