Buster’s Mal Heart (2016)

Directed by: Sarah Adina Smith | 96 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Rami Malek, DJ Qualls, Kate Lyn Sheil, Sukha Belle Porter Toby Huss, Lin Shaye, Mark Kelly, Bruce Bundy, Teresa Yenque, Jared Larson, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, Nicholas Pryor

Buster is on the run. Hunted by the police, this Jesus lookalike roams the hills and mountains of Montana. He sleeps in caves and empty chalets. As the year 2000 approaches, he is convinced that the Millennium bug will end everything. According to Buster, then comes the great reversal, a phenomenon that has to do with black holes and parallel universes.

Not long before that, Buster’s name was Jonah. He was a night clerk in a hotel. While his wife and young daughter slept at home – his parents-in-law’s house is at home – Jonah wandered the empty corridors of the hotel. Jonah was tired, exhausted really, and he longed for a home in the great outdoors. Until one day a stranger reports to the hotel. A little scary guy who deals with cosmic mysteries and quasi-scientific theories. About black holes and parallel universes.

Does all that sound confusing? Then quickly forget that a third character shows up in the American arthouse enigma ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’. A Christ figure in a boat on the water, waiting for death, surrounded by miracles.

Despite the intertwining storylines, ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’ is still quite understandable. The separate scenes follow each other logically, only sometimes the link between the adventures of the three characters (who form a kind of unholy trinity) is missing. But there are plenty of associations that connect the timelines, albeit at a more elementary level. For example, we see the bottle mail of our maritime Christ reappear later at a different location. For example, there is the name Jonah, from the Biblical figure who floats about at sea.

What connects the scenes above all is the threatening, eerie atmosphere. This is further reinforced by shadowy radio and television fragments, by the ominous score and by the repeatedly announced Apocalypse. Plus, the armed Buster seems seriously lost.

But not everything goes well in this entertaining and intelligent concoction. The attempts at humor are weak, the songs that sometimes appear are alienating and forced, the acting is not always as strong. But for the more adventurous movie buff, ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’ is well worth the gamble. And what is it ultimately about? We stick to black holes and parallel universes.