My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To

By: MJ Asuncion

There’s something to be said about family obligation. For most people, family obligations are a built-in part of life that is inherently accepted. Whether you agree or not, you don’t ask questions. You go along or participate even if you don’t want to. You support one another no matter what, for the sake of family. It is just what you do when you are part of a family.

In the opening scene of the film My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, Dwight (Patrick Fugit) is out late at night in search of what we later learn is his next victim. He is on the hunt for the lonely and the forgotten, basically anyone that society may not miss. He quickly brings home a body and, together with his sister Jessie (Ingrid Sophie Schram), they drain the blood to feed to their younger brother Thomas (Owen Campbell). Thomas is sickly and frail, barely able to stand, until he is given fresh blood. Even with a recent intake of blood, Thomas is still physically weak, but he is far worse without it. Thus, in the first minutes of the film we are introduced to a dark story of family obligation.

My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To does not provide much background into Thomas’s actual condition. Aside from exclusively needing fresh human blood, he is awake during the early morning hours when people usually are asleep and he never goes outside. Viewers are left to draw their own conclusion on the nature of his affliction. The film also doesn’t provide any insight on the trio’s parents or for how long the family has had to endure seclusion to maintain their secret. After what we conclude to be years of this ritual, Dwight and Jessie are at opposing sides of how they view their lifestyle and caretaker responsibilities. The dynamic between their characters is essential to the story and both Fugit, who is also a producer on the film, and Schram do a phenomenal job in their raw execution of the tension and underlying resentment they each harbor. My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To is shot in dark somber tones and continuously presents a slow build up to the more intense scenes, giving viewers a constant sense of dread throughout most of the film.

The film is directed by Jonathan Cuartas, a Colombian American filmmaker from Miami, who graduated from school in 2016, screening his thesis film Kuru at Palm Springs International Shortfest. Jonathan has previously directed short films, but My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To is his first feature film and it was an Official Selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.

My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To is not your typical horror film and some may consider it to be more of a thriller. It is reminiscent of other films, particularly the movie Let the Right One In, which has very similar qualities. Though the film contains the horror element woven intricately into the core of the storyline, at the heart it is a feature about family relationships and obligation, the need for human connection and the struggle of morality. It will make you question how far you will go for those you love and if it is worth it in the end.

The emotionally intense drama masked by the gruesome subject matter is not for everyone. However, the conditioned horror fan and all indie cinema fans should give My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell it To a chance.