Review: Flying Home a.k.a. Racing Hearts

Originally titled Flying Home but renamed to the equally generic Racing Hearts for its worldwide video release, this English-language feature debut from Oscar-nominated Belgian director Dominique Deruddere (Everybody's Famous) features Jamie Dornan roadtesting his viability as a romantic leading man before the Fifty Shades of Grey madness goes into overdrive.

Using the unlikely backdrop of competitive pigeon racing as the engine for its romance, the film introduces us to Dornan's Colin Montgomery, a Wall Street wheeler-dealer assigned to convince a sheik worth billions to invest in one of Colin's company's funds. The sheik (Ali Suliman) is already set on giving his money to one of Colin's competitors, but Colin finds a hook after learning of the sheik's passion for competitive pigeon racing and dream of winning the Barcelona International race. If Colin can acquire the sheik's dream pigeon, then Colin's company receives the sheik's money.

That dream pigeon is Wittekop and it's owned by a stubborn Flemish breeder by the name of Jos Pauwels (Jan Decleir), who refuses to sell the bird at any price. Colin, under the pretense of locating the grave of his great-grandfather who served in the war and died in Flanders, ingratiates himself with the wary townspeople, including Isabelle (Charlotte De Bruyne) who happens to be Pauwels' granddaughter. Naturally sparks fly between the city boy and the country girl. Naturally Colin must risk the blossoming romance to secure the deal with the sheik. Naturally things will all work out in the end.

Flying Home is an affable enough romance, buoyed by the laidback chemistry shared by the two leads and the pretty-as-a-postcard shots of the Flemish countryside. The script is peopled with simply constructed characters - the local parishioner (Josse De Pauw) who cracks jokes like "God is my provider" when Colin asks about the internet connection; or housekeeper Martha (Viviane de Muynck) who plies Colin with hearty fry-ups and replies, "We are honest people here" when he asks if the coffee is decaffeinated. Perhaps feeling that the romance, pigeon racing and the WWII elements weren't enough, Deruddere bulks up the third act with Colin's strained relationship with his father (Anthony Head; his Taster's Choice companion Sharon Maughan plays Colin's mother), which goes from estranged to conciliatory within minutes.

Dornan isn't particularly taxed with the role, but does fine work especially in the scene where he reveals his true colours to Pauwels. Dornan's an interesting sort - he possesses a shy, reluctant demeanour that no doubt heightens his appeal with the opposite sex. It's a quality that served him very well in his best role to date, that of the married father responsible for a string of murders in and around Belfast in the psychological procedural The Fall. Yet there is a self-containment in his acting that means he does well from scene to scene without necessarily establishing a through-line. It remains to be seen whether this is the mark of an actor still in progress (he only has a dozen credits to his name) or the extent of his abilities.

Flying Home a.k.a. Racing Hearts

Directed by: Dominique Deruddere

Written by: Dominique Deruddere

Starring: Jamie Dornan, Charlotte De Bruyne, Jan Decleir, Ali Suliman, Josse de Pauw, Viviane de Muynck, Anthony Head, Sharon Maughan