No MPAA rating. The Violent Heart. and shuffles into the woods. It's impossible to say an unkind word about the cast, a dazzling ensemble that includesMary J. Blige, who shines as Daniel's mother (in her first movie role since "Mudbound"); Cress Williams as Lee, Daniel'sfather, an Afghanistan veteran who inspires him to the enter the armed forces; andJahi Di'Allo Winston as Daniel's kid brother Aaron, who frets that mom favors big brother over him. Terms and Policies Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Hes 24 years old with a criminal record, yet he has started to rebound. Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, Golden Tomato Awards: Best Movies & TV of 2022, 10 WTF Horror Movies to Watch if You Loved M3GAN. Some of these central relationships are inappropriate, even dangerous, but the subtlety of Sangas filmmaking allows for big twists to come as a genuine surprise. THE VIOLENT HEART starts off with a 9-year-old boy named Daniel following his 16-year-old sister when she sneaks out of the house. Co-stars Jovan Adepo and Grace Van Patten have chemistry as a couple from different backgrounds falling in love, though Kerem Sanga's sensitive indie drama has other plans for them. Tragic drama has strong performances, violence. The Violent Heart 2020 Unrated 1 h 47 m IMDb RATING 6.0 /10 681 YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 1:36 1 Video 12 Photos Drama Thriller Fifteen years after the murder of his older sister, Daniel finds himself falling for Cassie, a vivacious high school senior. Written and directed by Kerem Sanga, the story reveals itself in layers, unfolding first as a family drama, a meditation on grief, then a youthful romance, a suspense flick, and finally emerging fully formed as an effective thriller that unites each of these strands. Our Take: Fate serves to be fatal for The Violent Heart, which was an otherwise passable, well-acted, nicely directed, rather humorless and slightly boring but otherwise watchable drama until the presence emerged to accelerate the plot to ludicrous speed. Do you consider anyone in the movie a role model? VOD release The Violent Heart seems destined to be lost in the shuffle. Grace Patten (left) and Jovan Adepo play the lovers at the center of The Violent Heart.. She believes in herself, and she believes in him too, and for the first time in ages, Daniel starts to unclench. A boy named Daniel witnessed his older sister Wendy being shot in the woods when he was 9. Okay I'll stop there. Details: Nine-year-old Daniel lives in a town outside of Nashville. For all of its overtures of forbidden romance, The Violent Heart uses its love story as a muscle more than anything else, flexing around Daniel and Cassies potential future together until it feels strong enough to lift a weighty meditation on the way that we live with our anger. In other cases, its best just to accept the surprise and move on, salvaging what you can of the experience. When he was nine, he saw his older sister being murdered in the woods by a man whose face he never saw and who has gone unpunished for 15 long years. Please enter your birth date to watch this video: You are not allowed to view this material at this time. The writer/director makes a point of contrasting the daunting odds facing the hero as he tries to gain admission to the Marines despite his juvenile criminal conviction, and the heroine failing to truly listen to Daniel's pain, even as she offers herself as a confidant and emotional cheerleader. A place where we celebrate love and life to its fullest, quite literally. 44,515, This story has been shared 35,289 times. Ultimately, The Violent Heart's tragic aspects make it difficult to watch, but it's worth the effort because of the cast. Privacy Policy In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. When the elusive melodrama The Violent Heart begins, Daniel is a child who idolizes his older sister Wendy (Rayven Symone Ferrell). The problem is that they seemingly have to tease out elements that are mostly glanced-over in the screenplayparticularly the racial dynamics of the relationship between Daniel and Cassie, and between Daniel's family and the town, which from all appearances is overwhelminglywhite. Even though we can feel the racial tension as subtext in a few scenes (particularly when mom and dad raise objections, and mom starts to say something like, "Also, he's" but doesn't finish) it seems unrealistic that nobody in this story would bring it up as text. Harris Goes to Paris on Peacock, A Nicecore Fairytale with Deceptive Depth, Chelsea Handler Shocks Drew Barrymore With Dating App Horror Story, 'The Fabelmans' Flops on 'Jeopardy' After All 3 Contestants Fail to Name Spielberg's Film, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Riotsville, U.S.A.' on Hulu, a Quietly Seething Documentary Outlining the Roots of Modern Civil Unrest, Drew Barrymore Details Embarrassing Tailbone Injury on 'The Drew Barrymore Show': "It's Not a Hemorrhoid! And it's certainly not just because she's female and he's male. Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Find where to watch movies online now! Hes earnest and moody, giving a nuanced angle on the angry young man type; shes charismatic like Shailene Woodley Lite, giving her character an astute blend of naivete and confidence. 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Shes a white high school senior and hes a Black 24-year-old ex-con working as a mechanic at the only place in town that will hire him, but those arent the differences that ultimately threaten to tear them apart. in " the violent heart ," writer-director kerem sanga ("the young kieslowski") wants us to believe that we're watching a sensitive post-racial romance about a goody-goody white tennessee teen. Newly rebellious, Cassie is quick to assure Daniel that shes 18 and capable of making her own decisions, and she pursues a relationship with him. Cassie is, Nine-year-old Daniel lives in a town outside of Nashville. Shes outgoing and chatty, and hes a little cold, but he thaws a little in her presence. Shes upfront: Look, Im a senior in high school. Opens Friday at Emagine Frankfurt and on demand. Please click the link below to receive your verification email. The parents' guide to what's in this movie. It somewhat profoundly depicts the ripple effects of violence via incidents involving Daniel and Aaron; it profoundly undermines this theme by turning the ripples into tidal waves, a metaphor I wield for its improbable defiance of the laws of physics. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 1,062, This story has been shared 958 times. His lead: A bright and beaming high school senior named Cassie (Grace Van Patten), who seems to willfully reject the popularity that she ought to own like a birthright. Blige, in her first dramatic film role since Mudbound, once again takes a fairly small part and magnifies its significance so well that it ties the whole movie together. What Time Will 'Strange World' Be on Disney+? Butby then it's too late for "The Violent Heart"to do anything but make you mourn all the promisingartistic and narrative pathways it refused to explore. Sex and Skin: Kissing! Fifteen years later in the same Tennessee town, Daniel (Jovan Adepo) is a 24-year-old mechanic who's trying to enlist in the Marines despite a prior felony conviction. Director Kerem Sanga Writer Kerem Sanga Stars Jovan Adepo Grace Van Patten Lukas Haas A nine-year-old kid named Daniel follows his teen sister out into the woods one night, and watches from a distance as the obscured person she was meeting there shoots her dead. Coming Soon, Regal Coming Soon. Sensitive, mature melodrama about sexuality in the 1950s. There are no featured audience reviews for The Violent Heart at this time. Theres some clumsiness in the screenplay, but the performances are good often better than they have to be. A thriller? 24 Famously Queer and Homoerotic Horror Movies, from 'Psycho' to 'Hellraiser' Ships from and sold by BullMoose. Adepo and Van Patten represent a couple we dont often see on-screen. The Violent Heart, available on video on demand starting Friday, Feb. 19, is a combination love story/thriller about a 24-year-old Black man and an 18-year-old white girl who is still in high school. Opens Friday at Emagine Frankfurt and on demand. Only 1 left in stock - order soon. But by the end, you will in no way be able to regard The Violent Heart as anything resembling a serious movie. The Gist: Young Daniel (Jordan Preston Carter) tinkers in the garage, fine-tuning his dirt bike. 'The Kardashians' Season 2 Finale Reveals How North West's Iconic "Stop" Sign Moment Happened, Kim Kardashian Says She Travels "With a Cup in the Backseat of the Car" for "Pee Anxiety" on 'The Kardashians', Every Pete Davidson Moment in 'The Kardashians,' From Showering With Kim to Remembering How She Rejected Him, Where Was HBOs 'The Last of Us' Filmed? All rights reserved. Copyright Fandango. So her thoughts change; and she starts to interact with Daniel a little more. The scenes between Daniel and his family are heartbreaking, because it's clear that their family is still grieving the loss of the oldest daughter/sister. Santa is ashamed of his past, pre-Santa life as a Viking who killed countless people with his hammer, Skullcrusher. violent And for the people who have already watched that film, The Little Things, some could use the ending explained. Or legitimately consulting with her about a student? That result is . , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. [6][7] It was originally set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Starring Jovan Adepo and Grace Van Patten. Cut to 15 years. The Violent Hearts transformation from well-meaning drama to Something Else left me cold. Director: Kerem Sanga. "The Violent Heart," available on video on demand starting Friday, Feb. 19, is a combination love story/thriller about a 24-year-old Black man and an 18-year-old white woman who is still in high. Instead, its beholden to a string of coincidences, guilty of withholding information that, once revealed, ruptures the credibility of all that came before. Where Cassie figures out their past have alot of connections that will soon surface. On a motorcycle. Running time: 107 minutes. I liked the performances, its visual detail, its familiar yet effective depiction of psychological trauma and its destructive fallout. The retired center teamed with Gabby Williams of the WNBAs Seattle Storm to beat former Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton and Spanish tennis player David Ferrer in a basketball game on the famed clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier. Sangas film is gripping for how it uses old scars to expose the pain of fresh wounds and vice-versa, and swirls complex weather systems of inherited and/or systemic violence into white squalls of new wrath. Going into The Violent Heart, you must understand that the ending is insanely ridiculous. Related Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! What are your thoughts on the difficulties that formerly incarcerated individuals face when finding work and trying to turn their lives around? It was released on February 19, 2021, by Gravitas Ventures. Early on, Sanga does a fine job of depicting the tentative first steps of Daniel and Cassies relationship in a way that doesnt feel identical to so many other young love stories. 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Fifteen years after his sister's senseless murder, Daniel finds himself falling for a vivacious high school senior named Cassie. Regal But something sure seems off. Maybe itd draw more eyeballs if Netflix or Amazon had picked it up or maybe theres a reason a big streamer didnt snatch it up? Top Filming Locations, 'The Last of Us' Opening Scene Is Terrifying Thanks to John Hannah, 'The Last of Us' Series Premiere Recap: Spawn of the Dead, When Do New Episodes of 'The Last of Us' Come Out? He runs, tumbles into a ditch, peers out. Melancholy, mature drama explores father-son themes. Adepo and Van Patten have decent chemistry, but their relationship seems ill-conceived from the start. Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said they reviewed on-site injury logs and discovered that Amazon warehouse workers experienced high rates of musculoskeletal disorders., The Violent Heart breaks as thinly drawn characters make ridiculous moves, Netflix looks to curb password sharing, considers ads, Johnny Depp denies hitting Amber Heard: Nothing of the kind ever happened, Shining Girls team needed Chicagos look and amazing talent to tell the story, Liz Sheridan, played Jerrys mom on Seinfeld, dies at 93, Charlie Rose reemerges with first interview since firings, Former Windy City Rehab star Donovan Eckhardts defamation suit is dismissed, Next stop Chicago? No MPAA rating. Get it Dec 20 - 21. Though he led his country against Germany toward the end of World War I, he did so only after resisting war as the preferred option. Gravitas Ventures will release The Violent Heart on VOD on Friday, February 19. 'Masterpiece' Head Susanne Simpson Teases 'Sanditon' Season 3 Is Her "Favorite One" Yet, Millie Bobby Brown is a Sword-Wielding Dragon-Slayer in First Damsel Footage. A connector at heart, Claire is solution-focused and people-centric, believing that the best investment she can make is devoting her time, skills, and energy towards the fight to end sexual . He sees Wendy embrace another person, then hears gunshots. Cassie is naturally starting to drift apart from Joseph and her mother Rose (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) in preparation for leaving the nest, and the tension is amplified when she returns to school from her first long afternoon with Daniel (who fixed her vehicle at the local garage where he works as a mechanic) and catches her father in what might be a compromising moment with a teacher (they both seem flustered as the teacher lets herself out of Daniel's classroom). Where did they hide the clues? The movie cultivates an ambient sense that not all is well. New Amy Winehouse Biopic 'Back To Black' Getting Roasted After Early Set Photos Leak: "No No No", Leslie Jones Makes Sexual Jokes About New MLK Statue but Tells "White People" to Stay Quiet. Tap "Sign me up" below to receive our weekly newsletter The first getting-to-know-you conversation between Cassie and Daniel is a disaster of bad writing, and yet its intended to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of establishing their immediate bond. Apart from a slightly older friend in Nashville (whom we never meet), Cassie isnt particularly close to anyone her age. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. Nearly 20 years after a CTA experiment with bus surveillance cameras failed miserably, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to try it again and then some in a designated downtown area. 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