What matters most about Heartland?
- Missing niece: Former country singer Misty Jones returns to Nashville to investigate the disappearance of her niece, Charlie Hart.
- Central performance: Jessica Chastain plays Misty and performs original songs alongside the cast.
- Story strengths: The review praises Chastain’s screen presence and the music but finds the mystery disjointed and its twists poorly executed.
- Where to watch: Heartland is streaming on Netflix.
Plot: Former country music star Misty Jones comes out of seclusion to investigate the disappearance of her niece, Charlie Hart, a rising country musician. The search draws Misty back into Nashville and forces her to confront her past; she discovers a murky side of the city where appearances can deceive.
Review: Mystery thrillers often follow law enforcement officers or private investigators as they pursue criminals. Stories about ordinary people investigating crimes without official authority can offer a different perspective, especially when the protagonist is far outside their comfort zone. In Heartland, filmmaker Shana Feste makes the investigator a well-known country singer. Jessica Chastain plays the lead, a performer who can fight and sing, but the review finds that the story often fails to make sense. Beyond its unusual premise, Heartland does not deliver the mystery suggested by its trailer. The film’s investigation feels disjointed, although its original songs, performed by the cast, stand out.
Jessica Chastain stars as Misty Jones, an outlaw country singer whose career and reputation have suffered after several much-publicized events. Misty lives far from Nashville, the center of the country music world, until her brother Donny (Paul Sparks) asks her to help find his missing daughter. Charlie Hart (Carter Faith), a rising singer, disappeared a week earlier. Misty reluctantly returns to a world she left behind. Heartland spends less time exploring the music business than following Charlie’s disappearance and Misty’s investigation.
The investigation brings Misty back into contact with her adversarial friend Winnie Jo Lean (Jennifer Nettles) and her ex, Clark (John Hawkes). The story also involves music producer Roy Combs (Garrett Hedlund) and local detectives White (Norbert Leo Butz) and Kinsey (Hill Harper). These relationships connect the missing-person case to Misty’s past in Nashville.
Misty is a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed protagonist known as the “C**t of Country.” The character is remembered less for her music than for violent outbursts, including slashing tires and cutting people’s fingers. Although Misty returns to help her brother find Charlie, she also faces unresolved conflicts from her past. During the investigation, she takes matters into her own hands through violence and music.
Heartland features original songs performed by its cast, and Misty stops to sing duets with people she encounters. The film is not a musical, but the review questions why Misty would pause a time-sensitive search to perform in concert venues and small nightclubs. Jessica Chastain sings in the film, following her performance as Tammy Wynette opposite Michael Shannon as George Jones in the Showtime miniseries George & Tammy. Misty’s country style differs from Wynette’s, while both roles showcase Chastain’s singing.
The trailer introduces the central missing-person mystery, but the review says the film’s story takes a different direction from what the trailer suggests. John Hawkes, Jennifer Nettles, David Rysdahl and Wynn Everett have less than 10 minutes of screen time between them. Most of the film follows Chastain and Garrett Hedlund, whose investigation changes direction barely halfway through the story.
The film reaches a major climax early, leaving substantial time afterward and making the ending feel flat to the reviewer. The review also finds that Heartland is neither as mysterious nor as thrilling as it needs to be. Its shift in direction is a key trade-off: the story moves away from the investigation established at the outset.
Writer-director Shana Feste previously explored country music in the 2010 film Country Strong, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw and Garrett Hedlund. Unlike that film, which focused on the music industry, Heartland uses thriller elements that Feste also explored in the supernatural horror film Run Sweetheart Run. The review says Heartland gives little attention to why people enjoy country music and presents a dark side of Nashville and the industry that does not feel convincing.
The review also questions how easily the characters get away with the actions they take. Several story threads do not reach a clear conclusion, and the ending leaves the reviewer feeling that the story is missing 10 to 20 minutes of development. The film’s central tension is between its country music setting and a crime story that the review finds difficult to follow.
Jessica Chastain and the original songs are the review’s main reasons to watch Heartland. Beyond those elements, the reviewer finds the mystery and its twists poorly executed, and the film formulaic and forgettable. The review suggests the story might have worked better if it had developed the mystery differently or focused more closely on its central idea. Overall, the reviewer wanted to like the film more but found that it did not come together.
Heartland is now streaming on Netflix.
The post Heartland review: Jessica Chastain fights and sings in this country music thriller appeared first on JoBlo.
What is Heartland about?
Heartland follows Misty Jones, a former country singer who returns to Nashville to investigate her niece’s disappearance. The search brings her into contact with people and conflicts from her past.
Heartland is a thriller about a country singer investigating her missing niece.
Who stars in Heartland?
Jessica Chastain stars as Misty Jones, with Carter Faith as Charlie Hart and Garrett Hedlund as Roy Combs. The cast also includes Paul Sparks, Jennifer Nettles, John Hawkes, Norbert Leo Butz and Hill Harper.
Jessica Chastain leads the cast as country singer Misty Jones.
Does Heartland feature original songs?
Yes. The cast performs original songs, and Misty sings duets during her investigation. The review notes that these musical scenes sometimes interrupt the urgency of the search.
Heartland features original songs performed by its cast.
Where can you stream Heartland?
Heartland is streaming on Netflix.
Netflix is the streaming platform listed for Heartland.
