After watching two of his films (the other being INNOCENCE), I simply cannot understand why Paul Cox is such an acclaimed director. I find his work uninspiring, wooden and dull. Lonely HEARTS is an insipid, slow, disjointed and uninteresting story. It is not a love story; there is no spark between the two principal characters. Things happen in the film without any explanation. The acting is average at best. The script is utterly empty. How did this win Australia's equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Picture?? Comes off as a second-rate TV movie.

I now see two recurring themes in these Paul Cox films: keyboard skills and rebound. INNOCENCE: an organist hops into the sack with his old girlfriend because he misses his deceased wife. LONELY HEARTS: a piano tuner hits the dating scene after his mother dies. I do not know what Mr. Cox's reasons are for using these themes but, from any angle, he is not a good storyteller.