Neil BakerThe Broken Hearts Gallery is now available on all major streaming platforms.
With everything that’s going on in our world today, a feel-good film is always welcome to brighten our days in lockdown, and while writer/director Natalie Krinsky’s feature debut, The Broken Hearts Gallery, may sound cheesy, it the movie we all need right now. Krinsky’s engaging and joyous celebration of love, connection and healing hums with energy, oozes charm and wraps us in humour; its sharp and witty screenplay a delight. But what truly brings Krinsky’s movie to life is her reflections on city life, loneliness and random connections. Here, the busy streets and sidewalks of New York provide endless opportunities and loneliness as Viswanathan, a 26-year-old art gallery assistant, collects mementoes of each failed romantic relationship she has endured. Some were fun; others were painful, and many involved man-children who weren’t ready to settle down (I think we can all relate!). But then she meets the reserved but charming Nick (Dacre Montgomery), who is transforming an old YMCA into a boutique shabby-chic hotel, and an unlikely business partnership is born.
The central performances of Viswanathan and Montgomery bring The Broken Hearts Gallery to life their on-screen chemistry, a delight to behold as their business relationship begins to morph into something new. But it is Krinsky’s screenplay and direction that really shine as she explores the pain of a broken heart, the hope of something meaningful and the nostalgia present in all those trinkets and belongings we carry that hold a memory no one else understands. The result is a delightful and engaging film that leaves many of its contemporaries in the shadows—each scene, conversation, and location celebrates the random human connections that often lead to happiness when we least expect it. So, if you are looking for a film that sweeps you away into a hopeful, optimistic world, look no further than The Broken Hearts Gallery this weekend.
