Janet Grillo – director – Jack of the Red Hearts
FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Janet Grillo, director of JACK OF THE RED HEARTS in competition at the 13th edition of Alice nella Città.
This is Grillo‘s second film exploring the topic of autism, the first was FLY AWAY where the director focused more on the difficult relationship between mother and daughter.
Jack of the Red Hearts is described by Janet Grillo as a film about love and what it means to be human. It is a story about how people can connect and how this unexpected connections can really turn our life upside down and change our path and our priorities.
This is how Jack, the protagonist, becomes more aware of the kind of person she wants to be in life so that she can start all over again with new priorities, dreams and good intentions.
JACK OF THE RED HEARTS: Aging out of foster care, a street-smart teen, JACK (AnnaSophia Robb, SOUL SURFER, CARRIE DIARIES) gets in trouble with her Probation Officer. Needing to lay low, she cons way into a job as live-in companion to a child with severe autism, GLORY (Taylor Richardson, ANNIE). Intending to stay a few weeks and make a few bucks, Jack is stunned when she makes a positive impact on Glory.
Meanwhile the family, in particular the mother, KAY (Famke Janssen, TAKEN, X-MEN) makes a positive impact on Jack. And wounded, scrappy survivors begin to heal each other a little bit–until the law catches up, the truth comes out, and Jack must choose: save herself or help someone else.