Bleeding Heart

Rating Breakdown: Story - 0.50 :: Direction - 1.00 :: Pace - 0.75 :: Performances - 0.75 :: Entertainment - 1.00 :::: TOTAL - 4/10

Oh, dear. Bound By Blood (2015), or Bleeding Heart, had potential-a story about two estranged sisters reconnecting should've been rich with drama and emotional heft. Instead, it's a plodding, monochromatic mess that never delivers on its promise.

Jessica Biel plays May, a do-gooder yoga instructor, and Zosia Mamet is Shiva, her rebellious, sex-worker sister. Together, they navigate a bleak reunion full of familial tension and external threats. Sounds gripping, right? Wrong. The script by Diane Bell is so devoid of depth and nuance that the characters barely register as two-dimensional. May is relentlessly passive, and Shiva is little more than a collection of clichés.

Visually, the film fares no better. Awful washed-out filters drain the colour from every scene, leaving the film looking like it's been soaked in dishwater. It's a shame because, occasionally, there's a decent shot buried under all that dreariness.

The pacing is a slog, and the performances feel half-hearted at best. Even Biel, who usually has screen presence, seems hamstrung by the lifeless script. Mamet tries to inject some defiance into Shiva, but the character is so poorly written that it barely registers.

Ultimately, Bound By Blood is a thriller without the thrill, a drama without the drama. It's emotionally flat, visually unappealing, and narratively hollow. There are better films out there-this one isn't worth your time. Save yourself 90 minutes and watch something else.

..she really is impressive.. would be so easy to take the obvious way out and do the tried and true big-money course of Hollywood.. in this film we see yet another time how good an actor she truly is.. and it is great to behold.. it is no revelation it would be extremely hard to disguise how incredibly gorgeous she is.. but her acting talent just adds to her impressive allure.. how hard must it be to have had this woman in your grasp, and to completely loose it and let her go.. what an ordeal to have to bear.. this little film is mostly subtlety her, and it is worth the time spent watching.. she can do pretty much whatever she wants, but to her credit she looks for script/ character challenges.. bravo Jessica..

Yoga teacher May (Jessica Biel) approaches Shiva (Zosia Mamet) with news that they share a biological mother. Shiva was a foster kid after their mother died when she was 12. Her pimp boyfriend Cody is volatile and abusive. May starts to fear for Shiva and invites her to her adoptive mother (Kate Burton). May's boyfriend Dex is angry that she gave Shiva $1000 for rent. After getting out of jail, Cody threatens Shiva but she returns to him anyways.

This moves rather slowly and deliberately. I kept waiting for a surprise twist. I have at least three in mind but this movie just kept plowing ahead. It's like watching someone willingly walk into a buzzsaw. One questions the character. The movie needs to lay out May's life more clearly and give her a greater motivation. I don't know much about writer/director Diane Bell but she shows a bit of skills. The acting is solid. Everybody shows up. This does need something more and I'm not sure what.

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.

Nothing like putting a name to a movie to create that money grab. If Beal wasn't in this I would never of watched it........but I did regretfully. Beal , looks like poops in this too. what was up with that. if Yoga makes you look like that stay away from Yoga. Well , that is the one thing I did get from this movie. Boring , except for the last 2min. They just kind of smash their way thru a story line and the writing. Hollywood just doesn't care about quality anymore. It is obvious with all the poop pushed out like making cookie cutter pizza. Hey maybe Domino's should make movies. if you are bored and have nothing to do but kill time and brain cells watch this. but you're not missing a thing at ALL if you don't.