With its Tangerine Dream synth-wave score and gliding Michael Ballhaus cinematography, Heartbreakers (1984) exudes considerable neon-noir energy. Yet the movie has nothing to do with the crime or thriller genre. Instead, all that neon and energy is just the palpable aesthetic for a drama about male friendships. The film’s title card frames the two men – Blue (Peter Coyote), a struggling artist, and Eli (Nick Mancuso), a wealthy businessman – observing a room filled with lycra-clad women during a work-out session, setting up a movie about the dating scene and two lotharios on the make. However, Heartbreakers has more on its mind than being an Eighties sex comedy and surprises you by certain scenes and their off-kilter directions. There’s a European-influence to the film’s tone, a messy hang-out about careers, money, family, sex, relationships and ultimately, the combustible love between these two men. A view of Los Angeles taking in its superficial and bohemian terrains: art gallery deals, gym work-outs, late night burgers, and early morning diners. Blue is wanting for success as an artist, spurred by a break-up with his long-suffering girlfriend, Cyd (Kathryn Harrold). Stuck in the family textile business, Eli finds pleasures in one night stands but is longing for a relationship. There’s the buxom model, Candy (Carol Wayne) for Blue’s fetish paintings, the French gallery employee, Lillane (Carole Laure) and the successful artist, King (Max Gail) that Cyd becomes involved with. I was fully into the style of Heartbreakers, which reminded me of After Hours but not a nightmare, or Miracle Mile without the apocalypse, or even the movies of Alan Rudolph such as Choose Me but less addled and woozy. Directed and written by Bobby Roth, and based in part on his own experiences in a male friendship, and the different sides of his personality. Great performances from the cast, particularly co-leads Coyote and Mancuso who get a chance to shine in different ways; Coyote as excitable and loose, Mancuso as suave yet wounded. I’m probably rating it higher in my estimation because it ticks a lot of aesthetic boxes, but I can imagine returning to this film as a way to spend time in this world and with these characters. Watched the Fun City Editions Blu-ray, which has a great remastered transfer of a film that was previously difficult to find a copy of. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 