The first man executed in America in more than a decade, Gary Gilmore captivated the American public, both because of the larger issues his strange saga involved and because Gilmore actively sought his own death, rejecting efforts to intervene on his behalf. His morbid fate spawned a cottage industry in itself, from songs like The Adverts' punk classic "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" to Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song and the well-received television movie it inspired. Shot In The Heart delves into the grim life and famous death of Gilmore once more, this time through a uniquely intimate perspective. Adapted from the book Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore wrote about his relationship with his infamous older brother, Heart limits itself largely to the week before Gary Gilmore's execution, as Mikal (played with acute sensitivity by Giovanni Ribisi) wrestles with whether he should request a stay of execution. The terrific Elias Koteas (Exotica, Crash) co-stars as the condemned elder Gilmore, and the scenes in which the brothers try to come to terms with each other under the worst circumstances possess an intensity that's regularly undermined by the filmmakers' unwillingness to trust the strength of their material. As ideologically, psychologically, and politically loaded as they come, Shot In The Heart brims with important issues, from the morality of the death penalty to the media's role in the justice process to the role socialization plays in breeding violence. Directed by veteran Agnieszka Holland, Shot In The Heart deals intermittently with these and many more topics, but also adds dollops of dime-store psychology, grim American gothic, magical realism, and even Mormon mysticism, which dims the urgency of the film's central relationship. That's particularly regrettable given that it has all the makings of a searing drama, and at times lives up to that promise. There's a tight, urgent, and timely film hidden inside Shot In The Heart, but it's not always worth forging through all the gratuitous bells and whistles to find it.