Sunday, February 27, 2011

Any Human Heart (Miniseries)

Starring Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, and others.

Something a little different today... Rather than writing about a film, I thought I'd tell you about the recent British/PBS miniseries called Any Human Heart. Based on a book I hadn't heard of by an author named William Boyd, this showed up on my DVR and my family decided to give it a go...

Any Human Heart is about the life of one man, Logan Mountstuart, from youth to old age. It tells his story through several narrative devices including the idea that, as an old man, he is reflecting on his life as he sorts through boxes of papers, journals, and photos. Logan is a compelling hero, though he is certainly flawed, and even unlikable at times. This is a kind of Forrest Gump type of story -- with Logan reporting on the Spanish Civil War, being a spy in World War Two, meeting Ian Fleming and Ernest Hemingway, etc. At three-parts long (each part being roughly over an hour), the story is not rushed by any means -- it takes its time. 

Logan's life is tragic. He loves, and loses. Things don't always (or even often) go his way. He is a failed writer. But despite all this, there is something lyrical and beautiful about the way this miniseries handles his life. The title comes from a quote by Henry James, which is introduced by Laura Linney in the Masterpiece miniseries: "Never say you know the last word about any human heart." In my opinion, the "thesis," if you can call it that, which this quote as the title speaks to, is that one should never suppose to know everything about another person, let alone ourselves.

The most creative and interesting part of the story is how it deals with his aging. As you can see in the poster, there are three main actors who play Logan -- the first when he is in college, the second in his middle years, and then the third when he is retired and older. I prefer this very much to the bad aging of an actor using makeup or, even worse, CGI. The best part about this was that this was done consciously -- with the idea that humans become "different people" at different stages of their life. Each actor's Logan was slightly different, and that's perfectly okay because Logan himself -- the character -- was a different person throughout his years. This was much better than a film which doesn't acknowledge the actor has suddenly changed. As I understand it, this is particularly good since the book deals with a theme of multiple selves, so not only is this cinematic magic at its best, but an adept adaptation. 

Along these lines, I know that the book this was based upon is written in the form of a journal... and the film also preserves this in adaptation. Logan is often seen writing in his journal (his words given to us through narration), which gives us wonderful insight to HIS human heart. From time to time, when Logan has left off journaling and is returning to it, we hear him give a brief rundown of his status: age, health, happiness, etc. A fascinating way to describe a life in progress. 

In all, I enjoyed this phenomenally, though it is the kind of thing that probably missed getting  noticed by many people. For something so simple -- the story of one man's life -- this film was extraordinarily creative in HOW the story was told. And the acting was Masterpiece at its best... Jim Broadbent and Matthew McFadyen in particular were incredible. The miniseries format was really well-suited to this story as it was nice to get into a story and not have it end in two hours... to actually get a more detailed depiction of the human heart was wonderful. 

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