Haze and Fanatasy: A Critique of Taylor Hayden's "From My Heart To Yours"

It's eery how unconscious it is for a writer/director to allow his work to reflect him like a mirror. Though not exact, Hayden's work seems to take on his mannerism, conversation style and his uncomfortable pauses, which is not always a negative when it comes to establishing a creative identity. As with directors like Todd Solondz and Woody Allen, Hayden seems to find comfort in adapting his art films to what he knows, or rather, exploring what he doesn't about himself. The casting of themselves in similar rolls throughout their filmography is telling of creative boundaries and comfort zones. For those who can identify or find intrigue in what the director has manifested, it can become easy to get hooked.

"From My Heart To Yours" follows along the same artistic style, dark undertones and sporadically as most of his other works I've seen. This one however has made strides in overall acting quality. Most actors in this film, though for the most part untrained, delivered convincing and almost natural performances. Some of the most interesting, as usual, being the two older gentlemen near the beginning of the film giving a touch of philosophical insight and dare I say, biological reference to add a more settling tone. His mother, to my surprise gave the most genuine and believable performance in the entire piece with her tale of a box of kindness. Regardless of whether there was barley any set up as to when or why it became Christmas in the timeline, being dropped there as the viewer, i was somehow unfazed and given the space to connect the stories symbolic relevance to the rest of the plot. The major problem with the casting was Katie Vanity. Though this girl is, bubbly, lovely and full of grandiose emotion as you can see from her performing in the connecting shots with no audio, her scripted sections were flat. For some reason, it's only when she shouts "I'm a hot bitch." that you get a sense of her natural mannerisms. This girl will be a performer one day, that is for sure, but I see it more in a medium where dance and gesture are more of the focal points. Shelby Tilton's character Jessica seemed a little over written at times with literary references and poetic lines. There was nothing in the plot that led me to believe that reciting these things were necessary or fitting for her character, unless she was and English major and I missed that part...

So, I'm not even a guy but I found myself thinking, 'just take off your top or something to make it more interesting.' The rave/club dance scenes in cages felt way longer than necessary. Perhaps had that section of the soundtrack (which was excellent by the way for the rest of the film!) been more pulsating and bassy as a rave would be, it may have not seemed as lengthy but I doubt it.

Points of interest:

-Taylor's demonstration of his impeccable editing skills and music synchronicity was evident, particularly in a performance scene by Katie where she struts around in overdrive with captions of her masked face a pink shutter shades.

-The line "When we don't know who to hate, we hate ourselves." was probably the most intriguing and thought provoking of the entire film. Within the context of the piece, it worked but I think it'd be interesting to see it explored on a grander scale in itself.


This film was admirable in its production and shows the progress of an artist trying to make his visions come alive. All Hayden need now is to make friends with a make-up artist so we can see some actual shots of gore :)