In case the name didn’t give you a clue, Buster’s Mal Heart is going to be a wild ride.
On the surface, there seems to be three separate stories going on, with Raami Malek (of Mr Robot and Bohemian Rhapsody fame) playing the central character in all three.
The first story dominates most trailers for the film and sees Malek play Jonás “Jonah” Cueyatl, a hotel concierge stuck pulling the night shift.
One night, a mysterious stranger arrives and tries to convince Jonah that some sort of cataclysm, which he calls “The Inversion”, is about to happen.
This segment plays like a classic psychological thriller with Jonah soon struggling to tell apart reality from fantasy.
If you’ve seen films like The Shining or even the previously reviewed Bottom of the World, you’ll have good idea of what to expect. The second storyline has Malek playing a roaming vagabond known as Buster, who spends his time breaking into empty vacation homes and doing odd things like turning all their photographs upside down.
Things escalate when he accidentally breaks into a house whose elderly owners are still there and soon Buster is having to outrun the law through the mountains.
The final thread sees Buster, far worse for wear, floating in a dingy miles out at sea.
This is definitely a more cerebral film. If you don’t pay close attention, you could soon not know what’s going on.
For those looking to just ‘Netflix and chill’, this probably isn’t the movie for you.
