Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
quincytheodore
Family tie is a good hook for drama, especially if the two main characters are pretty endearing. The cast, albeit small, perform admirably to set strangely surreal characters. However, this is a simple story told in excessively cumbersome way, the slow pace and mundane script prevent any excitement from the first half, and even when it looks like it would gain momentum, it doesn't end up in satisfying conclusion.May (Jessica Biel) finds her long lost sister Shiva (Zosia Mamet), but their lives are world apart. It's basically the entire premise and there are not many twists or shocking developments. What the movie does well is presenting these two sisters with modesty. Jessica Biel and Zosia Mamet look the part of siblings, they also have a good on-screen connection. Their relationship is heart-warming and even thought-provoking at times.However, the movie takes a very sluggish approach. This may necessary to build up characters, yet the scenes tend to get tedious early on. Some interactions feel repetitive, such as the sisters' banters, which might be adorable but it can be quite overused, the abusive boyfriend who constantly bullies them and shallow use of alternative life style. It needs about one hour to get the momentum rolling, and it's still imperfect then.Edi Gathegi and Joe Anderson play the male supporting characters, they do a presentable job considering their personalities are not as deep as the sisters. This is a drama through and through, it may turn into thriller slightly, although it doesn't know what to do when it gets there. The theme of violence or rape could be used more thoroughly instead of being another uncomfortable gimmick. It only partially succeeds in displaying female empowerment.There's a delightful drama at heart with the sisters, yet the extremely sloppy pace and one dimensional direction only amount to mediocre showing. .
mickeythecudder
It currently holds a 5.0 rating but its still too low. Its a great drama that delivers. It has great performances and I enjoyed every minute of it. It doesn't deserve the 10 I gave it, more like a 7 or 7.5, but I just wanted to keep the balances. Some people might think it needed more character development but still, their actions are justified, what they say and how they react to things makes sense. It has a very realistic feel and it may gets annoying about how the characters handle things, but if you think about it, it is what most people would do, and it actually delivers the liberation it promises.Im not a woman, so I don't have any personal reasons to like this movie, because it deals with abuse and stuff, and Im not a big drama fan either.. I watched this because I saw Jessica Biel, without being a Biel fan either, holding a gun in the poster and thought it would be an action flick, so I guess you could count on this review since a male action fan enjoyed a female empowering drama movie. Very much.
Anthony Orlando
What is it that ties ours hands thus keeping us from helping another human being; we each feel this urge to be a good person, but often stopping short of accomplishing anything. So many times we are pulled the opposite way by those interfering; for once can someone please have a spine, and stand up tall. Bleeding Heart filled these expectations, and in a big way. There were several movies I wanted to watch tonight, and I am glad I picked this first. Jessica Beil and Zosia Mamet carried the movie with a relationship which showed superb acting, and supporting actors played perfect roles with setting up the stage of the movie.A little known fact, the three brothers that made up Warner Brothers specifically chose to produce movies which had a point to them, hoping the audience would learn something. Watch this movie and let me know if you thought there were characters that their actions just turned your stomach inside out, while others in the script empowered you.
Clayton Davis
2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: The intimate and calm nature of Diane Bell's "Bleeding Heart" is simply mesmerizing. Starring Jessica Biel as May, a yoga instructor who finds her biological sister Shiva (played by Zosia Mamet), who is a sex worker with an abusive boyfriend (played by Joe Anderson). The unlikely pair explores the boundaries of their new-found relationship, the identity of family, and the protection of one another. Bell's handle of the subject matter is very impressive, as she chooses to focus on reactions in several key scenes rather than words. Having only one feature under her belt (the little seen "Obselidia" in 2010), for which she received two Independent Spirit Award nominations, Bell emulates the passion and demand of storytelling as seen by such filmmakers like Patty Jenkins and Lisa Cholodenko. Taking on double duties with writing the film's script, her exploration into these two female characters isn't as intricate or precise as you'd like. With an 80 minute runtime, there's likely a few more minutes of dialogue, coverage, or something additional that would have rounded out these two women a bit more. One area that Bell doesn't lack is in her ability to get the very best work out of her actors. Jessica Biel may have finally found her vehicle. With an internalized and very subtle performance, Biel excels in her ability to find the very motivation of May. Her yearn for family, both with her sister and her boyfriend (played by Edi Gathegi, who you'll know from "Gone Baby Gone" and "X-Men: First Class") is richly profound, all leading up to a climax that will keep you at the edge of your seat.You may all know the adorkable Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro on HBO's hit-show "Girls," a role that she's confidently called her own in an ensemble that doesn't exactly allow her to shine. She sheds all her cute and innocent personas to inhabit the soul of an impenetrable woman. Mamet's work as Shiva is hands down the best performance seen by an actress this year yet. She doesn't play it safe or conventional as we've seen with other "hookers with a heart" stories in other films. She's unafraid to be judged by the audience; not looking for an alibi, simply guilty as charged as delivering one of the bravest turns of the year. It's very exciting to see her take on a role like this feet first.As one of our more standard character creations, Joe Anderson as Cody, Shiva's boyfriend, is just mind-numbingly good. Anderson, who you may remember from films like "The Grey" and "Control," harnesses the energy of a Ben Foster-type, in a vile role that simply stands out."Bleeding Heart" is a fascinating film, though a tad predictable. If nothing else, it recognizes the under-appreciated work of Jessica Biel and Zosia Mamet, and places writer/director Diane Bell at the forefront of exciting indie filmmakers. "Bleeding Heart" currently has no distributor.
