Posted: 09/28/2001

Hearts in Atlantis

(2001)

by Hank Yuloff

Sir Anthony Hopkins stars in another fine film adapted from a novel by Stephen King.

In my favorite daily newspaper, the LA Times, screenwriter William Goldman was asked to talk about some of his favorite experiences in his 35 or so year career in the movie industry. The two-time Oscar winner gave three movies in which he was involved: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (his first Oscar), The Princess Bride, and his current project: Hearts in Atlantis, his fourth Stephen King adaptation, directed by Scott Hicks (left).

Before he adapts a screenplay, Goldman stated, he reads and re-reads the original book, making marks on pages as he goes. When the time comes to do the actual writing, he goes through the book and if he sees several notes, it becomes part of the movie. If he sees no marks on a page, he skips it. With Hearts in Atlantis, he has done another wonderful bit of writing togo along with some of my other Goldman favorites: The Stepford Wives, The General’s Daughter, and All the President’s Men, for which he won his second Oscar.

Hearts in Atlantis is a captivating story about a mysterious psychic named Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) who moves into the vacant duplex apartment above Liz Garfield (Hope Davis—Mumford) and her son, Bobby. He is being tracked by the FBI, which is intent on using his powers to fight Communism. The relationship that develops between Brautigan and Bobby is the real story, though.

The adult Bobby is played by David Morse (Proof of Life, The Green Mile)in a story which bookends the bulk of the movie. The 11-year-old Bobby is played by Anton Yelchin, whom we last saw playing a Russian kid in Along Came a Spider. Judging by these two films, Yelchin is at the beginning of what should be a very promising career. At 11, he has already worked with two of the very best, Morgan Freeman, and Hopkins. Likewise for his co-star 14-year-old Mika Boorem, who was also in Along Came a Spider, as well as The Patriot and the upcoming Riding In Cars With Boys where she gets plenty of screen time with James Woods. Boorem plays Bobby’s first girlfriend, and also plays her own daughter, 30 or so years later.

These two young actors have added to a crop of excellent child acting roles we have had this year. They are very close to the performances by Kelly Endresz-Banlaki in An American Rhapsody and Haley Joel Osment in A.I.

To describe Hearts in Atlantis as a “coming of age” film would be a generality, and I don’t really enjoy that term. I prefer to describe the film as a way to revisit my own childhood and, as the older Bobby was doing in this flashback movie, remember some of my first friends, long gone from my life but still there in memory. You can’t really help but make those comparisons to your own life’s string of “firsts.” First best friends, first kiss, first bike, first realizations of the big world around us. Hearts in Atlantis takes us on that journey, both on the screen and in our own hearts. And the greatest discovery is that the trip is worth it.

Hank Yuloff owns a specialty advertising company, which gives him plenty of time to recall his own first kiss… Hi, Karen! Or was it Valerie? Or maybe…?

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