My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020)

Two older siblings take care of the younger one in a way that consumes them both physically and mentally.

Slow-burn, indie horror that invests in both character and story development. The gritty opening sequence captures the audience’s attention and promises a certain level of brutality. It’s not what it looks like, though. From the beginning till (almost) the end, the film does not appeal to our emotions. Acts I and II feel emotionless, as the only one who exhibits some kind of emotion is the younger one, Thomas. However, the writer/director Jonathan Cuartas aims exactly for that. What the siblings have been going through for who knows how long has exhausted them; it has drained their lives.

Surely, using the word “drain” is somewhat ironic, given what it has been revealed they are doing. Even though we think we know why they are doing it, the fact that it has not been disclosed to us effectively builds up the suspense and makes us wonder when and how it will be revealed, as well as how this dark journey is going to end.

The film doesn’t try to fool anyone. It is a nano-budget project that tells a very specific story. Despite the budgetary constraints, Cuartas and the leading cast – Patrick Fugit, Ingrid Sophie Schram, and Owen Campbell – give heart and soul to the project and lead you to a melancholic third act that matches the (inarguably depressing) previous two. It is definitely not an uplifting film and most definitely not for everyone.

Credits should also be given to the director of photography, Michael Cuartas, for the meticulous mise-en-scène throughout the film and composer Andrew Rease Shaw, for the haunting music in the forse selected sequences. Last but not least, to the film editor T.J. Nelson not only for controlling incredibly the pace and rhythm but for something else as well: Even though ‘montage’ is often characterised as ‘editing’, it is, arguably, an oversimplification. Numerous kinds of montages serve different purposes. Ultimately, though, they serve the narrative. One kind is the ‘sequential analytical montage’, where what is revealed is the beginning and end of an action. When you see the end, your mind fills the gaps with what happened in between. For example, if you see in one shot two cars speeding up against one another and in the next shot the two cars crashed into each other, you can picture in your head how it happened. Orrrrrrr, when you see in one shot someone whose throat is about to be slit, and in the next shot, an amount of blood stored and served…

Please, don’t forget to share and subscribe. If you enjoy my work and dedication to films, please feel free to support me on https://www.patreon.com/kaygazpro. Any contribution is much appreciated and valued.

Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!

Stay safe!