b-monday Had me screaming at the TV by the end - the story swirls deeper and deeper down and pulls everything with it. A real snowball! Part of the film's grasp on me was its realism, very well done. There is an awkward tension between Frank and Lynette, especially when they first meet, and it is interesting to watch their relationship develop as they gradually loosen up around each other. Marsden's performance as Frank is fierce and brutal, sometimes a bit gross - he really gave it his all. The story seems to thicken quite naturally and film is very good at making the viewer empathetic to its heavy story lines. The story is bleak but sincere.

Shane Levene Junkhearts is just about the best sci-fi/paranormal activityesque film I've seen all week. My favourite scene is where the aliens descend and take away our anti-hero (eddie marshan) for some serious self-analysis to try and get his head better after returning home war-down. I think the director did a great job with the CGI effects on Eddie's looks... he kinda looks like something that Wes Craven never used in The Hills Have Eyes (1 and 2). I must admit, some of the outer space scenes seemed a little unrealistic, and the scene where Danny (Tom Sturridge) and Christine (Romola Garai) had a passionate embrace on mars just didn't work for me. Still, sci-fi and genre aside, this little British jewel does have its serious side, taking us deep inside the mind of a mentally deranged soldier who is battling his urge to drink by going to war. With no more wars left, only those raging in the outer reaches of the galaxy, our marinated antagonist hits the bottle big time and that's when help (from a very unlikely source) arrives. It's here where I have what is probably my biggest problem with the film... the little props and scenery. The vodka looked like water and when the spaceship took off for the final time the cups in Christines house seemed empty and glued to the table. But this is a minor gripe considering just how great this film is. I guess when something is faultless you search out errors. It's like what My Physics teacher (Mr Knapton) once told me: "You'll NEVER get a 100% mark in your exam... 99.9%, yes, but NEVER 100. The markers will always find some error, no matter how irrelevant!" Well, I guess that speech hit me deeper than I thought, because here I am, 20 years later, proving Mr Knapton's theory 'One Star Down' theory correct. But back on subject, and to sum this hard-hitting, low budget Brit-flick up, I'd say it's the best Sci-fi pic I've seen this side of insanity. The director done well with limited budget and ex-Craven rejects and managed to pull of a stupendous action/effects film... all without a drop of blood anywhere!9 outta 10!!! Two thumbs up from Tristram Spencer!

diggus doggus Junkhearts is a British, nearly-for-TV drama about the relationship between an ex-soldier and a homeless girl, their troubled personalities, and the hard lives they lead;Though there are some interesting choices in the script during the early developments - the goldfish scene, where Lynnette does for Frank what he did for her in the self-defence scene - ultimately Junkhearts descends rapidly into a tabloid-grime film about crime, wasted youth, and defenceless characters, who from leads become merely a support to the trite story.This film had potential, but the writers didn't have the material to get a whole hour and a half of film together; all in all, disappointing.My vote: 5/10 - inconclusive, aimless, self-defeating.

teri_doubtfire I couldn't recommend Junkhearts highly enough – if you only choose one film to see in 2012 I implore you to make it this one. I went to a showing of Junkhearts at The Renoir not sure quite what to expect, feeling compelled to go with a friend who had seen it advertised at the London Film Festival. I would have been satisfied simply to have been able to say I'd seen it if I'm honest. Instead I found myself completely lost in the lives of Frank and Lynette – an army veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and a homeless girl from Nottingham. The story that unfolds seems bleak from the outset but it completely took my breath away. Sure it's not for the fainthearted, but it's also funny, moving and showcases a script full of wonders I didn't expect.