Bleeding Heart

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.

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.

This film tells the story of a yoga instructor who finds her long lost half sister with the help of a private investigator. The half sister is a sex worker and has an abusive boyfriend, so the yoga instructor makes it her mission to save her half sister.

"Bleeding Heart" has a rather unconvincing story. The main problem I find is that I can't be sure whether the half sister is really who she is supposed to be. The whole saviour mission looks more like a mid life crisis thing, rather than a mission out of blood relations. If Jessica Biel wasn't in this film, I would not have had watched it, and would have enjoyed it even less.

Despite the bad rating I decided to give it a shot, and didn't regret it. This should be a lesson for not always taking the IMDb rating for good. The story is credible and touching, and the performing was OK. God knows I saw many worse movies with better rates.

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.