Love is a burning thing, a Man in Black once said, and its flame burns bright in “Bleeding Hearts,” an achingly intimate new documentary that captures a country music couple falling for one another as their band embarks on its first cross-country tour. Directed by Andrew Morgan and making its world premiere at TIFF, the film chronicles a year in the life of Chaparelle, a country supergroup of sorts comprised of Zella Day, a former pop singer who’s opened for Lana Del Rey; country singer-songwriter Jesse Woods; and producer Beau Bedford. But it’s really more of a two-hander with Zella and Jesse, the couple at its center, harmonizing heartfelt ballads with one another.
And they couldn’t be more different. Jesse, tall and taciturn, enjoys his alone time, favoring the solitary nature of the songwriting process over performing. He is prone to suffocating bouts of depression and was at a particularly low point when Stella entered his life.
Stella is a tiny ball of energy who lights up every room she’s in and stage she sets foot on. She is also 12 years younger than her counterpart, who is 43. Zella is a joyful person and it’s very good medicine for me.” “It’s like stars and gravity,” adds Day.
For me, what Jesse brings to Chaparelle is this gravity.” If this juxtaposition — that of the tortured songwriter and eager ingénue who pulls him out of the darkness — sounds familiar, it is. You’ve seen it before in films like “Walk the Line” and, of course, three different versions of “A Star Is Born.” It’s hard not to think of “A Star Is Born” while watching “Bleeding Hearts,” as Woods and Day bask in quietude and tenderness at their Wimberley cabin before stepping under the bright lights to stomp, clap and croon, with Day firmly front and center. She has that extra something and she has it onstage, so it’s cool that she found someone in Jesse who’s not trying to outdo that and is allowing her to be that.” Day and Woods seemed to find each other at just the right time.
Woods had moved out to a cabin in Wimberley, a remote area in Texas with a population of 2,800 people. He’d “gone through a breakup, was drinking way too much and was isolated.” Day had been living in Los Angeles for thirteen years trying to break big as a pop star, which left her “spiritually and energetically” drained. She was tired of asking her more famous friends for favors and the transactional nature of L.A.
She was “starved for authenticity” and needed to escape. I got to a point around 26 where I was exhausted by that, and my relationships were also exhausted by that. I hadn’t hit a stride where I’d reached a certain level of fame or success where it made things easier.
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