The Violent Heart is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Kerem Sanga. It stars Jovan Adepo, Grace Van Patten, Lukas Haas, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Cress Williams, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, and Mary J. Blige.
The Violent Heart | |
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Directed by | Kerem Sanga |
Written by | Kerem Sanga |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Ricardo Diaz |
Edited by | Joshua Raymond Lee |
Music by | John Swihart |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Gravitas Ventures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $23,614[1] |
It had its world premiere at the Deauville Film Festival on September 9, 2020. It was released on February 19, 2021, by Gravitas Ventures.
![]() | This section may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (October 2022) |
Always showing the love for mechanical things since a child, Daniel strives to become a mechanical engineer for the marines fifteen years after the mysterious murder of his older sister Wendy. Since he witnessed the murder of his sister; he tries to juggle the life that he wants for the awful memories that he has left behind. In the midst of all of this he meets Cassie; a witty and loquacious young girl that attends a local high school who he has to stop by the auto shop at her dad's request for an oil change. Having to leave the car behind she asks Daniel to take her back to the high school that his brother's attend. Cassie tells Daniel about her father; he expressed that she must really love her father because of how she speaks about him in such a high standard. She soon finds out him and another teacher at the school are somewhat having an affair. So her thoughts change; and she starts to interact with Daniel a little more. Where Cassie figures out their past have alot of connections that will soon surface.
In addition, Jordan Preston Carter briefly appears as the young Daniel who witnesses his sister's murder.
In December 2017, Grace Van Patten and Jovan Adepo joined the cast of the film, with Kerem Sanga directing from a screenplay he wrote, with Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Ed McDonnell and Tobey Maguire, who will serve as producers under their 21 Laps Entertainment, 3311 Productions and Material Pictures banners, respectively.[2] In January 2019, Mary J. Blige, Lukas Haas, Jahi Di'Allo Winston and Kimberly Williams-Paisley joined the cast of the film.[3] In February 2019, Cress Williams joined the cast of the film.[4]
Principal photography began in February 2019.[5]
It had its world premiere at the Deauville Film Festival on September 9, 2020.[6][7] It was originally set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9] In December 2020, Gravitas Ventures acquired distribution rights to the film, and set it for a February 19, 2021, release.[10]
The Violent Heart holds a 56% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews, with an average of 5.6/10.[11] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 49 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12]