Heavenly Creatures
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Movie Reviews of Heavenly Creatures
Movie Review: absolutely spellbinding
Summary: 5 Stars
i happened upon this film late one night, on bravo or Fx, some channel like that. i wasn't planning on staying up or watching it, but i found myself constantly pulled back to this film that i had no idea what the title was. i just felt myself sucked into it. so i gave up and watched the rest of it. i have never been so spellbound, and not in a happy pastoral way, but nonetheless hypnotized, by a film as i was with this.
the actresses are perfect for their roles. you get a defeinite sense of the altered realities, of being claustraphobially close in the minds of two teenage girls that are a bit 'off' to put it mildly. graphic, horrifying in its realities...just amazing. once the film was over, and i caught the end where it said it was a true story and the names, i immediatly had to go to the computer and read everything about this case. i was horrified by the trip i had just been on...
peter jackson is brilliant. there's no other way around it. a friend of mine sat me down to watch dead alive to show me the work of the 'guy who was doing LOTR.' and in all honesty i was a little frightened for LOTR. but then when i saw this, my fears were instantly calmed and i knew he'd be perfect...
this is a fantastic film. a masterpiece certainly...
Movie Review: Forget Lord of the Rings
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures is Peter Jackson's masterpiece. The film that took him out of horror film obscurity and which launched Kate Winslets film career, Heavenly Creatures shows what a man with a special effects background like Jackosn can do with "straight" drama.
Plot wise the story revolves around the true story of two New Zealand girls in the 1950s who become friends and, according to the film, lovers. They share a rich fantasy world which Jackson does a great job of bringing to life (there are some great scenes with claymation fantasy figures). As their relationship deepens their relationship with their increasingly concerned parents deteriorates. When they are learn that they are to be seperated they decide to murder one of their mothers.
None of this is really a spoiler since Jackson starts out the film with a statement of their crime and with the girls running bloody from the scene. There is a lot of interesting narrative techniques as the film moves between fantasy and reality, and back and then forward in time. The story of the girls friendship moves forward with all the tension and urgency of a train jumping the tracks. A great film by a great film maker.
Movie Review: Heavenly Creation
Summary: 5 Stars
This film distinguishes itself in so many ways. It marks the arrival of Peter Jackson as a cinematic voice to be reckoned with. His melding of bone-chilling reality and terror and fantasy suggests his later works, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the underappreciated remake of King Kong. In her film debut Kate Winslet arrives auspiciously as the sickly daughter of a disfunctional upper class family. Not to take anything away from Jackson and Winslet, who would be the selling points here, is the work of Melanie Linskey. Aside from the scene in the beginning that forbodes the film's shocking conclusion I thought Linskey telegraphed her performance with a Kubrickian stare as she poses for a photograph with her smiling private school classmates. Don't be fooled. Linskey's turn is one of great subtlety as she assays the insecurities and loneliness of Pauline Parker. Seemingly polar opposites Parker and Winslet's Juliet Hulme serve a need in each other that would ultimately become lethal. "Heavenly Creatures" stylistically is unlike any film I've seen before and serves as not only one of the great film's produced in New Zealand but one of the best films of the Nineties.Movie Review: Fabulous!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is actually one of the best films I have seen in recent memory.For one thing, the visual affects are breathtaking and startling. Watching them really made me feel like I had entered the world of the two main characters.
The second thing that blew me away was Kate Winslet's performance. I have been a fan of Kate's since 'Sense and Sensibility'. Although 'Heavenly Creatures' predates 'Sense', I viewed 'Heavenly Creatures' afterwards. This performance proved to me that Ms. Winslet is one of the most capable actresses of my/our generation.
Lastly, this was my introduction into the mind of Peter Jackson, the director who would later give us 'The Lord of the Rings.' The fact that this is also based on a true story gives additional credit to the director's vision -- Mr. Jackson was able to weave the harsh reality bits with the fantastic journeys into these teens' imaginations in a very convincing fashion.
Like I said this is one of the best films I have seen in a while and I highly recommend it!
Movie Review: Fallen Angels
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I saw Heavenly Creatures I didn't like it. Afterall this IS a true story about two teen aged girls who commit a terible crime. I've since seen it several times and each time I like it more. Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey give incredible performances and Pauline and Juliet. Melanie Lynskey is especially good as lower middle class Pauline/Yvonne,Gina. The use of music and the fantasy sequences effectively show the over the top emotional states these girls were in. The relationship starts out innocently. In fact, Pauline is so miserable, it seems like Juliet is the best thing that has ever happened to her and then everything spirals out of control. The final and best sequence has almost no dialoge--just the delicate music of the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly as Pauline's plodding, simple mother walks unwittingly to her death like a cow to the slaugher house. The scene starts out with beauty and ends with hideous cruelty and sums up the story of Pauline and Juliet perfectly.