The Craving Heart (2006)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Stan Harrington

Writer:

Stan Harrington (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Love doesn't discriminate between the good or the bad, the past or the present...the living or the dead.

Plot:

Scientist, Alexander Tom (Stan Harrington) thought he had it all, great wife, great house, career.....

Awards:

10 wins

Cast

Stan Harrington	...	Alexander Tom
John Saxon	...	Richard Tom
Rick Peters	...	Lou Coventry
Adrian Zmed	...	Phil Jorgenson
Joe Guarneri	...	Jake
Blythe Metz	...	Walela
Red	...	Ave Tom
Timothy McNeil	...	Arthur Jordan
Stefanie Chapman	...	Waitress / Sarah O'Neill
May Quigley	...	Mrs. Anderson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ana Cristina de Oliveira	...	Girl at funeral

Runtime:

USA:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Xristos Productions

Independent Filmmakers Rejoice! The Bar is Lowered!

As an Independent filmmaker, I think it's only right to promote other independent filmmakers. I hope that with this review, as negative as it, people will seek out this film. Help the producers make money, and finance another film.

But it's a horrible movie. First of all, it has a plot that cannot be explained without giving away some major plot spoilers. It's about a man, Alex Tom, who is well educated, has a beautiful wife (who is a District Attorney prosecuting a child molestor), and has John Saxon as a father. Seems like an ideal life, right? Alex recently saw his best friend die. He also has a recurring dream about a woman he met the day his friend dies. Okay, so we are getting somewhere. The rest of the story is explained through Pseudo philosophical monologues spoken by characters in the movie, that contradict themselves so much that the overall philosophy of the movie is almost lost.

Nobody talks like the people do in the movie. Perhaps the worst of it is John Saxon recalling his experience in Vietnam. Great moment for a soso actor. Really well done. Except there is almost nothing that brought up the war. It's like the director thought "Hmm... A Vietnam Monologue might be dramatic." Now, maybe it was just setting up the fact that he went to Vietnam. Made sense, seeing that it is important in a seen later. However, his service would have been best explained through context clues when he explains why he never shows off his metals.

In another independent film Cliché, Self mutilation is brought into the tragic story of Alex Tom and his mystery woman. Quite Gratuitiously, I might add. Here's my thing: We know she's cutting herself. We don't need 5 minutes dedicated to it where nothing changes. At this point, I started wondering if she was watching the same movie we were.

Ultimately, it was poorly shot, poorly edited, and poorly written. And, with a few exceptions, poorly acted. I don't have anything nice to say about the movie period. And I hop to god the film is a success, i want to see all independent films succeed. However, this is the type of film that Independent films are stereotyped as being. It's simply 80 minutes too long.