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Heart Breaks Open

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Synopsis

A model queer activist and poet, Jesus (Maximillian Davis) prides himself in his work with the Seattle LGBT community. At the same time, Jesus is having unprotected sex and cheating on his long-time partner Johnny (Samonte Cruz). Jesus’s world implodes when he discovers that he is HIV positive, forcing him to confront his innermost fears, his relationship with his ex-boyfriend, and a future living with HIV. Faced with the unknown, Jesus is pulled from the brink of self-destruction by Sister Alysa Trailer (Brian Peters), a drag nun who leads him down a path of self-discovery.

3 Reasons To buy this film

"Heart Breaks Open is filled with lovely, understated performances, but the takeaway star is director Rain, whose confident style gives the film its idiosyncratic soul and an entrancing rhythm." The Stranger.com
" It could be the festival’s most challenging work, and a must-see if you are ever able to track it down." Film Confessional.com
Won Best Picture at the Red Wasp Film Festival

Review

Bursting with the raw energy of an almost cinema-verite-like feel and gorgeous poetic narration, Hearts Break Open is a stunningly moving film from director/co-writer Billie Rain and cinematographer/co-writer/producer Basil Shadid. Not shying away from issues or drama the film tells the story of a young queer activist who strays from his relationship with an FTM trans person and sero-converts to HIV-positive.

Jesus (Maximillian Davis) is active in the Seattle queer community. he works with an anti-violence hot-line and he's in a relationship with Johnny (Samonte Cruz), an FTM trans person. At the same time, he's done some cheating behind Johnny's back. When Jesus tells his boyfriend about the transgressions, Johnny breaks off the relationship and Jesus is despondent. And it doesn't get any better when he finds out that he's become HIV-positive. Jesus tries suicide but luckily his door was ajar and his next-door neighbor Sister Alysa Trailer of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Brian Peters) comes to his rescue in more ways than one.

The dialogue in the film was improvised by the actors in a collaborative process with with the filmmakers - this produced a very powerful film. The filmmaker also tells us that instead of a traditional three-act structure this film is based on the stations of the cross and that HIV is Jesus' burden to bear. Jesus is met by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, "an order of 21st Century [drag] nuns dedicated to the promulgation of universal joy and the expiation of stigmatic guilt." That's not something we completely understand yet. What we do understand is that Hearts Break Open will rip your heart open the emotions are so powerful, the feelings so strong.

-- Scott Cranin

Product Format Information

DVD-R : $19.99

Availability: In stock and ready to ship
Region Code: 1
UPC: 807839005950

Studio : Dual Power

Customer Reviews

Facing Fears

Amos Lassen wrote on 10/12/2011:

Jesus (Maximillian Davis) is a queer activist whose world blows up when he discovers that he is HIV positive. He must now deal with his worst fears, his relationship with his ex-boyfriend and living a life with HIV. He had been having unprotected sex when he was cheating on his boyfriend. Now he is forced to face the unknown and he moves toward suicide but is rescued by Sister Alysa Trailer (Brian Peters), a drag queen and member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. She guides him on a journey of self discovery.

Jesus had always been proud of the work that he has done in the Seattle LGBT community but at the same time he was an activist, he was engaging in unprotected sex and cheating on Johnny (Samonte Cruz), his boyfriend. The movie deals with queer life, public health and community accountability. I understand that idea is based on the Christian Stations of the Cross and HIV replaces the cross as the burden and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence replace the daughters of Jerusalem. The film asks the question of what Jesus would be if he were here today and I loved that approach.

With so many movies about AIDS, there had to be a new way of looking at it and it does with the theme of the second coming of Christ. The film deals with AIDS openly and how each community must be accountable for the cases in it. Using the Catholic ideology is the second way the film is different and it is an educational look at the disease. Billie Rain who directed the film has surely brought us something new and we now have to make sure that those who need to see it will, in fact, do so.