Director: Jonathan Cuartas
Writer: Jonathan Cuartas (Screenplay)
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Ingrid Sophie Schram, Owen Campbell, Moises L Tovar, Judah Bateman, Katie Preston
Plot: Two mysterious siblings find themselves at odds over care for their frail and sickly younger brother.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To starts when siblings Dwight (Fugit) and Jessie (Schram) are spending most of their free time caring for their frail younger brother Thomas (Campbell). The siblings must collect blood to keep Thomas strong, which will see the pair go down different paths to make this happen.
As Dwight starts to want to move away from this life of secrets, he finds his relationship with Jessie getting strained, as she starts to see the bigger problem coming, while Thomas is getting tired of being trapped in the same home, just wanting some freedom.
Thoughts on My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To
Thoughts – My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell it To is a slow methodical movie that will try to capture the same magic We Are What We Are did with the secret that could leave the world filed with fear. The film doesn’t capture this same magic with large parts of the mystery often leading down dead end, showing us just how captured the siblings are within this world. The mystery about what is wrong with Thomas is hinted at heavily, but never truly explained to how this happened, with more of the film being character driven over anything truly scary. Patrick Fugit, Ingrid Sophie Schram and Owen Campbell are all great with their performances, bring these characters to life, but in the end the story lacks the impact it wants to give us with the world they are in.
My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To will be available on Digital Download from 28th June
Final Thoughts – My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To is a slow and methodical movie that doesn’t quite capture the magic others have with the mystery about the family’s secret.
