Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Cast: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto
Director: Todd Robinson
It took one year for Lonely Hearts to find a release in India. That8217;s a surprise, for this film based on the true story of the Lonely Heart Killers, a couple who duped lonely women of their cash and either drove them to suicide or murdered them in the US in the mid-1940s, is quite gripping.
Director Todd Robinson, whose grandfather was the detective that cracked the case, marshals the story quite nicely, ensuring that he rarely crosses the line to sensationalism despite the blood and the sleaze.
While Robinson lingers quite a bit on establishing the character of Detective Elmer C Robinson 8212; whose wife also committed suicide, apparently of a lonely heart 8212; it is when the killers Ray Fernandes Leto and Martha Beck Hayek are on screen that the film comes alive.
Robinson captures the desperation and guilty pleasure that drive the victims, generally spinsters or war widows, as well as the increasing lunacy of the actions of the killers themselves.
While Travolta does his best with the plodding Detective Robinson and Leto as Fernandes, Salma Hayek just steals the show from under all of their noses. She is unforgettable as the slightly unhinged and unpredictable Martha Beck. Don8217;t know about Matha, but you wouldn8217;t want to cross Salma Hayek.
