Jessica Chastain plays a country singer who has spent two decades away from Nashville in Heartland. When her niece vanishes, she goes back to a city where the people who know the young singer also have careers tied to hers. Shana Feste’s mystery began streaming in the U.S. on Netflix Friday, Nov. 13, the same day Netflix Music released its 15-song soundtrack.
Chastain’s Misty Jones was once a star. Her niece, Charlie Heart, is building a career of her own when she disappears. Carter Faith, a country singer and songwriter, plays Charlie in her feature acting debut. The search brings Misty into contact with Charlie’s manager, Roy Combs (Garrett Hedlund), and her boyfriend, Jace (Ross Lynch). Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland plays another country singer, Winnie Jo Lean, and John Hawkes plays Misty’s former husband, Clark.
Shana Feste returns to country music
Feste wrote and directed Country Strong, the 2010 film that put Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw in a story about a singer’s return to the stage. Hedlund was in that film, too. Feste told Netflix’s Tudum that she wanted to come back to country music through a mystery with the feel of a film noir. The trailer shows Misty onstage and also out on the road, working through the people who might know what happened to Charlie.
Chastain did her own singing. She previously played Tammy Wynette in George & Tammy and sang as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Here she performs the title song with Nettles. It’s a version of the song first recorded by Hailey Whitters, MusicRow reported.
Faith came to the film from country music. Nettles brought experience on both sides of that divide: she sings in Sugarland and has acted in Harriet and The Righteous Gemstones. The film gives both performers characters with a stake in Nashville’s music business.
What’s on the soundtrack
Faith sings “Still the Sparrow Sings” and shares “Honeycomb” with Trannie Anderson. The album also includes Carly Pearce’s “Ready & Waiting” and “Too Late For Coffee, Too Early for Beer,” a duet by Hawkes and Margo Price. The soundtrack listing lists those recordings separately from the film, so listeners can find the cast’s songs without going back through the credits. In TheWrap’s review, William Bibbiani notes that one of Charlie’s songs also contains a clue Misty uses in the investigation.
Heartland is rated R. The Netflix title page has the film and trailer. For other releases this month, see Edit USA’s November streaming calendar.
