By David Dent
In Kim Albright’s fantasy comedy the phrase ‘I give you my heart’ is given a literal interpretation in an alternative world where hearts are, literally, transferrable things.
Anabel (Anna Maguire) works for a virtual insurance company, where claims can be made for things like loss of cloud content. She’s also an artist and frustrated with her single life; an awkward relationship with her mother doesn’t help matters, although her angst, and her unwillingness to engage with the app that everyone’s using – Life Zapp – amuses fellow worker and friend Casey (Donna Benedicto)
When Anabel meets similarly awkward George George (Hamza Haq) on a park bench, she hopes that love might be in the air. But George is a cold fellow with a paper heart, so Anabel does the only thing she can to movie things along; she gives him her heart. But a heartless Anabel poses its own problems.
With Love and a Major Organ is a superficially slight film which reminded me of the movies of Quentin Dupieux; odd but with unexpected emotional depth. The concept that hearts are removable hard objects is initially quirky and funny, but as the film progresses it becomes enveloped in an overwhelming sadness, reminiscent of Anabel’s heartless state.
Maguire is great as the confused, frustrated Anabel (and the organised emotionless ‘heartless’ version of herself); an early scene of her being the only human at a pre bridal get together (and overdoing the Cheeto provision) is cringeworthy but hilarious. Writer Julia Lederer ensures that the weirdness remains human and that the ending is only partly redemptive.
Bloody Flicks 