{"id":49402,"date":"2025-08-28T00:01:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=49402"},"modified":"2025-08-27T22:51:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:51:35","slug":"heart-of-the-man-2024-filmout-san-diego-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/28\/heart-of-the-man-2024-filmout-san-diego-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart of the Man (2024) [FilmOut\u00a0San Diego 2025]\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A young boxer being trained by his father to take on the family mantle and a title shot finds himself in a new place with unexpected new friends while going on a self-discovery journey.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Written and directed by David Cook, for whom this is a first feature film as both writer and director, Heart of the Man is a touching coming-of-age story that is clearly close to the filmmaker\u2019s heart. The writing here is good and so is the direction with some great moments here and there. The story\u2019s pacing is a bit off for the first 30 minutes or so of the film, but when it picks up, the story moves at just the right pace, one that works for the film and the viewers. The way the film works once it passes the first third is lovely to watch, entertaining, and filled with vulnerability from the filmmaker who also happens be playing the support role of the father.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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David Cook not only wrote and directed the\u00a0film,\u00a0but he also co-stars in it, giving himself the role of the rough father who is not fully opened to the possibilities in his son\u2019s life. His portrayal here works in a gruff and sometimes emotional manner. Joining\u00a0him as his son is Parker Little who takes the film and runs away with it once\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0given the chance. His work here is solid and sells the whole film, even in some of the harder to believe scenes and moments. His work here is layered,\u00a0natural, and vulnerable for most of the film. His performance perfectly shows\u00a0the\u00a0character shift that this young man goes through. The supporting cast here is solid as well with a few coming out on top of the bunch with Matt Young\u00a0stealing\u00a0each and every\u00a0scene he is in.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Director of photography Nathan Jermyn handles the cinematography here and it is lovely. The work brought to the screen here is well-planned, framed, and shot with\u00a0great use\u00a0of light both natural and artificial to make the film look its best. The film\u2019s images here worth\u00a0just right\u00a0with the story, getting brighter when needed and darker when needed. There is something here that is very appealing on the visual side of things, taking a story that most in mostly expected way and\u00a0making it so much more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Heart of the Man is a solid drama about finding\u00a0oneself, standing up for\u00a0oneself, and being accepted as you are. The writing and direction work, the performances are good to great, and the imagery is on point throughout. This is one of those films that makes you forget that the first half hour was a bit sluggish once the story really gets going. Heart of the Man is a great entry in the coming-of-age subgenre, one that focuses on a gay man finding himself, his place, and his voice while\u00a0remaining\u00a0accessible to all.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young boxer being trained by his father to take on the family mantle and a title shot finds himself in a new place with unexpected new friends while going on a self-discovery journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284],"tags":[225,302,2123,1569],"class_list":["post-49402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","tag-coming-of-age","tag-drama","tag-lgbtq","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49403,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402\/revisions\/49403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}