THE VIOLENT HEART
US, 2020, 107 minutes, Colour.
Jovan Adepo, Grace van Patten, Lukas Haas, Mary J Blige, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Jahi di’Allo Winston, Jordan Preston Carter, Cress Williams, Rayven Symone Ferrell.
Directed by Kerem Sanga.
This is a drama set in the South, the story of Daniel who witnessed his sister leaving home when he was 15, following her, her being murdered in the forest. His played by Joseph Adepo and Mary J Blige plays his mother.
Daniel, 24, wants to join the Marines but works locally in a garage. It is there that he come across a precocious high school student, played by Grace van Patten. They are attracted. And it is a multi-racial romance in the town.
This has an effect on each of the two, Daniel and his plans, Cassie and her place in the plans and for herself.
Racial issues, violence issues, and commentators have suggested a touch of Romeo and Juliet (and others alluding to Othello and Desdemona).
- The title? Daniel’s heart? Cassie is hard? Her father’s heart?
- The setting, the city in the south, the visits to Nashville? Homes, school, classrooms, the lake, countryside? The city atmosphere? The musical score?
- The prologue, the family, Daniel and his camera, his age, devotion to his father, response to his mother, with Wendy, the feathers? The meal and the speeches to camera? Wendy leaving, Daniel and his bike, following, observing, the murder, trying to help Wendy? The later flashbacks?
- 15 years later, Daniel 24, his story, working in the garage, his absent father in Afghanistan, reputation in the Marines, Daniel wanting to join the Marines, the visit to the senator, her support, the authorities refusing because of his prison record? His telling the story to Cassie about his anger, blinding the boy, going to jail, reforming, getting diploma? Yet being on edge? The memories of the murder and its not being solved?
- Cassie, 18, in class, literature, her father as the teacher? Home life? With her mother? The car and arrangements? The encounter with Daniel, the garage, asking for a lift, her chatter, talking, the bond? Meeting Aaron? Going to the classroom, the door shut, her father’s explanation about changing the bulb? The woman leaving? Cassie and her suspicions, hostility, decision to go to Nashville, on the bike with Daniel, at the nightclub, his violent reaction, explanation to her? The night together?
- Daniel, upset at not being accepted in the Marines, relationship with Aaron, Aaron’s issue of the fight in the classroom, the principal, his mother apologising to the boy, Aaron and his fears declaration that he was not liked? The background, Wendy and her pregnancy…?
- The issue of the feathers, a tenuous clue but significant? Cassie fighting the further in the car, Daniel and his explanation of the feathers Wendy?
- Her confrontation of her father, his denials, confession, Cassie’s denunciation, his wife, Daniel arriving, the confrontation, the fight, Daniel killing the father, his own wounds, dying?
- Audience suspicions as to who did the murder, how early, no other suspect possible? And the surprise of the unhappy ending?
