''Bleeding Heart'' (originally titled ''Shiva & May'') is a 2015 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Diane Bell and starring

Jessica Biel Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family drama series '' 7th Heaven'' (1996–2007 ...

Zosia Mamet Zosia Mamet (; born February 2, 1988) is an American actress. She is known for her breakout role as Shoshanna Shapiro in the HBO series '' Girls''. Mamet also starred as Annie Mouradian in the HBO Max original series '' The Flight Attendant'' an ...

, Joe Anderson and

Edi Gathegi Edi Mūe Gathegi (; born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-American actor. He appeared as a recurring character, Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love"), in the television series ''House'', as Cheese in the 2007 film ''Gone Baby Gone'', Laurent in the films ...

. The film was produced by Jonathan Schwartz, Andrea Sperling, and Greg Ammon.

Plot

May, a yoga instructor (Biel) makes contact with her younger half-sister Shiva (Mamet); the two share a mother, Susan, but were born ten years apart, with their mother giving May up for adoption to a rich family while Shiva bounced around foster homes. Despite their glaringly different backgrounds, the two bond quickly, although May is soon uncomfortable about Shiva's boyfriend Cody (Anderson). Dex, May's boyfriend and partner in their yoga school, is uncomfortable around Shiva when he learns about her true history, but May refuses to leave her sister, particularly when she finds that Shiva returned a thousand dollars that May had given her to pay for rent.

Cast

as Shiva *

as May * Joe Anderson as Cody *

as Dex * Kate Burton as Martha *

Harry Hamlin Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'', a role he reprised in 2007's Santa Monica Studio video ...

as Ed (''cameo'')

Production

On October 1, 2013, Diane Bell started casting for her new film. On October 7,

and

were officially cast as long-lost sisters along with Kate Burton and Joe Anderson and it began shooting the same day.

was cast a week later.

Filming

Filming started in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in October 2013.

Release

The film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 16, 2015.

Reception

Critical response

According to critic aggregation site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a critic score of 43%. Frank Scheck of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "Despite its non-exploitative approach to its subject, the film... is too schematic and obvious to have the desired impact. Content collapsed. Biel turns in a fine performance as the unlikely violent hero, but Mamet excels in a role far different than her Shoshanna on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''Girls''."

References

External links

* 2015 films Films shot in Los Angeles 2015 drama films American drama films Films produced by Andrea Sperling Films produced by Jonathan Schwartz 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language drama films Films directed by Diane Bell {{2010s-US-drama-film-stub