Ruined Heart: Another Love Story Between a Criminal & a Whore

A nearly dialogue-free gangland visual tone poem shot in just four days in the slums of Manila by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle and directed by the king of Filipino digital filmmaking, Khavn De La Cruz (Mondomanila along with 47 other features and over 100 shorts!). Starring Japanese indie icon Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) and one of Mexico’s best new actresses Nathalia Acevedo (Post Tenebras Lux), Ruined Heart defies easy explanation. The basic plot is simple: Asano’s gangster rescues Acevedo’s whore and they go on the run. Along the way there is a Godfather (poet-playwright Vim Nadera) who is “the world’s poem,” dance parties, dream parades and carnivals, orgies, and murder. All of this is accompanied by wild visuals and an even wilder soundtrack. Acevedo’s exuberant acting and eye-popping costumes and Asano’s raw physicality (sequences where he runs through the back alleys holding the camera are some of the most striking in recent cinematic memory) create an emotional core to the action that gives the chaos a joyful tenderness that stays with the viewer long after the film is over.