Lucas, a homeless, good-hearted young man, has given up on life when he meets Jacques, the hard-hearted, sickly, sole owner of an old-fashioned men’s bar in New York. Jacques thought he could train Lucas to be his successor so he nestles him under his wings and teaches him the trade’s beatitudes and secrets. Fate must have brought them together; for one is to teach and the other to learn.Yet a desolate, beautiful woman who comes at the bar’s door one night will put their blooming friendship to test.

Try a swift background check on the casts, writer/director and production staff of The Good Heart, and you’ll be impressed- Brian Cox,a highly-applauded actor in London plays (his first big movie break was Manhunter-1986) ,Paul Dano, a lead guitarist, vocalist turned theater and film actor and producer at 26, and Dagur Kári, an award-winning writer/director for his peculiar films Noi the Albino in 2003 and Dark Horse in 2007. Imagine having these motley talents showcased in a rare-themed movie, the intensity of the drama is just a great regret to miss. When the finest theater actors and director take the cinema stage, you’d see that roles are not portrayed-the characters come to life.

The Good Heart wastes not a single minute exploring the innermost character of its two main casts, Jacques and Lucas. You’d never probably catch a useless scene no matter how close you watch. Its hypnotizing soft opening music will smoothly take you in a new dimension, and the grainy effect of camera used in filming only justifies the era.

You pick a student you thought you could train on the best way to live, only to realize that the weakling has taught you a life-transforming lesson you hardly imagined you’d learn. Dagur Kári and the rest of his staff deserve kudos for sharing this story to a larger crowd. It’s truly worth every minute and cent you spend viewing.