Seeing a movie called
The Violent Heart, you might expect a 50s melodrama to be your awaiting pleasure, the type of time machine throwback romance with a title as profound as Lana Turner was glamorous. So it’s a jarring surprise to instead come across a new Kerem Sanga indie drama with such an understated, even melancholy star-crossed romance to offer, filtered with an unsolved mystery, a protagonist exuding stoic trauma, and a twist only the ripest of moviegoers will find surprising. On second thought, perhaps this really is a throwback.
15 years after witnessing the horrific murder of a family member at the young age of nine, Daniel (Jovan Adepo) finds himself adrift as an adult, constantly wrestling with the painful reality that the killer is still out there. He eventually crosses paths with Cassie (Grace Van Patten), a high school senior who admits she talks a bit too much, and as their friendship blossoms into something more, Cassie makes clear to Daniel (and the audience)
CST
Gravitas Ventures presents a film written and directed by Kerem Sanga. No MPAA rating. Running time: 107 minutes. Opens Friday at Emagine Frankfurt and on demand. Writer-director Kerem Sanga has a knack for delivering arresting, noir-like visuals, especially from medium- and long-shot distance, and the talented cast gamely tries to sell the material, but “The Violent Heart” is so muddled there are times we have to remind ourselves of the connection between certain characters, and the histrionics so over the top we’re hoping everyone will just take a deep breath and CALM THE HECK DOWN. Our story begins with an extended prologue in which 9-year-old Daniel (Jordan Preston Carter), who idolizes his teenage sister Wendy (Rayven Symone Ferrell), gets on his motorbike and follows Wendy after she sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night, suitcase in hand, to meet up with a man a man who shoots her in the woods as a horrified Daniel looks on. (We do