Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie Review

Fly home with this unheralded film under your wing.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 5, 2015

Can one assign a monetary value to happiness? Is there a dollar figure that can effectively erase one's passion? Can money -- any amount of money -- cover up mistakes, hide the truth from the heart, or truly settle a troubled soul? In short, can money buy happiness? Or is happiness something beyond even the reach of the almighty dollar, something that is instead found, friended, fostered, formed, and fused to the soul? Racing Hearts, also known by the (much more fitting and telling) title Flying Home is a sweet, smart, and surprisingly satisfying story of a cold-hearted businessman who slowly opens up when a deal of a lifetime places him in a position of destiny that might cost him his livelihood but may rekindle his life. Written and Directed by Dominique Deruddere (Everybody's Fine!), Racing Hearts is a real gem of the Romantic Drama genre, an outwardly simple yet dramatically deep and moving story of finding fate, building character, and embracing love over all else.

The racer.

Colin Montgomery (Jamie Dornan) is a business-first success story whose rise towards the top of his firm, WFG, is but a single deal away. A wealthy Middle Eastern Sheikh (Ali Suliman) is set to invest a sizable portion of his fortune with a rival firm. Colin travels to his desert estate in a last-ditch effort to land the deal. He comes to learn that the Sheikh is an avid pigeon racing fan who dreams of entering, and winning, the prestigious Barcelona Pigeon Race. But none of his birds will do. He covets a prized pigeon owned by an elderly Belgian named Jos Pauwels (Jan Decleir) who is refusing to sell the bird to the Sheikh for any price. Montgomery takes it upon himself to try and secure the bird for his would-be business partner in hopes of landing the deal of a lifetime. He travels to Belgium under an assumed name and a cover story that places him in the country in search of his ancestor who fought and died there during World War I. While there, he meets, and grows fond of, Pauwels' granddaughter Isabelle (Charlotte De Bruyne). Will Colin leave personal feelings aside and coldly complete his task, or will he discover that there's more to life than landing another high dollar deal?

Much of Racing Hearts is built on a simplicity of story that gradually takes a more complex shape as the film pushes towards its conclusion. Yet that greater complexity doesn't mean a more tangled narrative. Instead, the film slowly unfolds as it evolves, playing with ideas far greater than its initial push of greed and deception and constructing a more intimately satisfying tale of personal evolution, full-circle fate, and a greater understanding of what it means to live, not merely to exist as a pawn in an artificial race towards some goal that might satisfy now but that is sure to leave an empty void later. It works through a classic three-part structure that's very evenly delineated and accessible, deliberate in characterization and story evolution with seeds of something more planted and later harvested as the movie reaches its touching two-part yet single purpose finale. The double finale's parallels are unmissable and, better, heartwarming, reinforcing the film's final, firm narrative focus on "home," both in the physical sense and in a greater, more inwardly personal context.

The film is further solidified by smooth and careful construction, comfortable in its simplicity and insistence that only characterization and both its superficial and more intimately honed narrative elements take center stage. Director Dominique Deruddere largely steps away and allows his characters to breath a tangible, effortless life into his precisely constructed script. Jamie Dornan, Charlotte De Bruyne, and Jan Decleir are magnificent in the leads, the former certainly a disparate soul and a devilishly deceptive one at that, a stark contrast to the more simplistic but far more grounded and attuned Belgian family that the latter portray. The character interactions reflect the film's simplicity; there's a charm in lighter moments and a heartfelt sincerity in its heavier pieces, with a tangible darkness hanging over only the necessary parts and a brighter, more hopeful feel flowing over every scene in which the Pauwels appear. Cast chemistry is a great asset, as is Wolfram de Marco's strong, dutiful, yet easy-on-the-ears score that, like Colin, evolves into a lighter, breezier, more carefree and comfortable yet fundamentally grounded piece near the end, reflecting his character growth and otherwise staying largely out of the way through the movie's middle stretch.

Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Racing Hearts features a clean and stable 1080p transfer. The digital photography is presented with a noticeable flatness but not a lack of texture. Facial features are commendably complex, and some of the older exterior façades and interior touches in the Belgian locales appear nicely defined and true. Colors are bright and natural; the image pushes slightly to a sometimes cold, sometimes yellow appearance, but greens and reds and other brighter shades are lively and light up the screen. Neither black levels nor flesh tones cause concern. Eagle-eyed viewers will note brief examples of aliasing and banding, but on the whole the transfer offers up little room for complaint. This is a competent, well-assembled presentation from Universal.

Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Racing Hearts features a balanced and accurate DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music is smoothly delivered with a precise, full stage flavor that envelops the listener in Wolfram de Marco's score. Definition is a strength and the ease of musical space and flow are likewise commendable strengths. The track doesn't feature any hugely aggressive elements beyond a loud helicopter heard late in the film, playing with a positive weight and closeness appropriate its on-screen location. Midlevel effects, such as hard hits and echoes in a handball court or moderately deep bass at a dance, are satisfactorily presented. Lighter effects, such as crunching billiard balls or flappy pigeon wings, enjoy transparent, lifelike realism. Dialogue gets lost once or twice early on under all that flapping, enough that it's useful to turn on the subtitles, but otherwise dialogue enjoys a clear, accurate, and center-focused presence. Overall, this is a good all-around track from Universal.

Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Racing Hearts contains a few interviews, three deleted scenes, and a trailer. A UV digital copy voucher is included in the Blu-ray case.

• Interviews (480i): Writer/Director Dominique Deruddere (4:10), Actor Jamie Dornan (1:07), Actress Charlotte De Bruyne (1:42), and Composer Wolfram De Marco (3:43).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Some Guys Really Care About Their Pigeons (0:52), Remembering WWI (2:41), and Colleague Congratulates Colin (1:22).
• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:46).

Racing Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Who knows where life will lead? Sometimes, it leads right to where begins. Racing Hearts is a beautiful little movie that crafts a deep, moving interior within a simple exterior. It's a movie not about coincidence but rather fate and shared bonds -- even bonds that neither party know exist -- that bring people together even in the face of deception and tragedy in a beautiful full circle sort of way that's only possible on the whims of life and the draw of two seemingly disparate but destined souls coming together in the most unlikely of ways and through the most unbelievable of shared experiences. This is good, largely wholesome, and classically tuned cinema workmanship, a real gem that's not to be missed. Universal's Blu-ray release of Racing Hearts features strong video and audio. A few short extras are included. Highly recommended.