TORN HEARTS

(director: Brea Grant; screenwriter: Rachel Koller Croft; cinematographer: Yaron Levy; editor: Hunter M. Via; music: Brittany Allen; cast: Katey Sagal (Harper Dutch), Abby Quinn (Jordan), Alexxis Lemire (Leigh), Shiloh Fernandez (Caleb),Joshua Leonard (Richard Rowley Jones, manager), Alon McKLyeen (Hope Dutch), Clarke Wolfe (Tammi); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Paige Pemberton/Paul Uddo; Amazon Prime Video/epix; 2022)

“Disposable and unappealing.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Director Brea Grant (“12 Hour Shift”/”Best Friends Forever”), a former actress, and writer Rachel Koller Croft, show the dark side of the country music world in Nashville in this creepy pic that exploits the myths of female solidarity when the gals are played off against each other.

Jordan (Abby Quinn) and Leigh (Alexxis Lemire) are two young women who have a music act called Torn Hearts, and are looking to break into the music business. The antisocial Jordan is the duo’s main talent. She’s the songwriter, vocalist and backup guitar player. Leigh is the colorful frontwoman. They both idolize the reclusive middle-aged singer Harper Dutch (Katey Sagal), an icon in the ’80s and ’90s, who retired after the death of her sister. She’s a binge-drinker and is manipulative, and has bigger plans for her singing duo than they bargained for when she takes them under her wing.

The film dazzles with its original songs and in exposing the music industry’s male dominant mistreatment of women. It also has some ugly moments, as one character is stabbed to death in the throat.

The main problem is that the script is a bummer and the film is disposable and unappealing, as if a made for TV enterprise. The thing  I enjoyed best was an enjoyable impromptu a capella recording session between Harper and the Torn Heart.
 

REVIEWED ON 8/21/2022  GRADE: C+