Heights (Merchant Ivory Productions)
by Chris Terrio
List Price:
Our Price: $2.99
You Save: $12.00 (80%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Elizabeth Banks, Eric Bogosian, Glenn Close, James Marsden, Jesse BradfordDirector: Chris Terrio
Brand: CLOSE,GLENN
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-11-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Heights (Merchant Ivory Productions)
Movie Review: "More like two degrees of separation when it comes to New York"
Summary: 5 Stars
Heights opens with Glen Close, admonishing her class of drama students for not having enough passion in their lives. Close plays Diana, a theatrically, egocentric New York acting diva, ironically aching for some passion and ardor in her own life. Diane is about to open on Broadway in a new production of Macbeth, and posters of her as Lady Macbeth gaze out upon her subjects from bus shelters and theatre marquees.
Diana's husband has been having an affair with her understudy in the play, and even though Diana is supposed to be in an open marriage, the situation has given her very real heartache. Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is Diana's beautiful and introverted daughter who is also having problems with her husband.
A successful New York photographer, Isabel is planning to wed Jonathan (James Marsden), a thriving and similarly ambitious young lawyer. But recently Isobel and Jonathan have been drifting a part - blame it on the stress of the wedding plans, or even the problems of conducting an interfaith marriage. Jonathan is Jewish, and Elizabeth gentile, and he seems to be handling that well, but something more is bothering him about the union.
One morning in his office, he gets a phone call from Peter (John Light), a British journalist who wants to interview him about his friendship with a famous photographer, gradually it is revealed that half the men in the movie qualify as an ex of this busy photographer's. The call causes Jonathan to become preoccupied and petulant as he once did some nude modeling for the photographer. He also doesn't want to know that Isabel has a great opportunity for a photography job, but if she takes it, she'll have to travel to thousands of miles away to Eastern Europe.
While poor Diana is watching her personal life slip away, in spite of the fact that she desperately clings to the trappings of stage stardom, her daughter sees others around her in much more honest terms than she sees herself. Her camera is her filter for the world, including Jonathan. On the surface, Jonathan is the perfect husband for Isabel, and he has it all: a beautiful, smart and artistic fiancée and a stage star for a future in-law. But a terrible secret threatens to derail their marriage, affecting Jonathan's ability to be intimate.
Alec (Jesse Bradford) lives upstairs from Jonathon and Isabel. He's a young actor auditioning for part in Diana's Shakespearean stage production. He's a good actor and aches to break away from low budget fringe theatre. Diana takes an instant liking to him, she thinks he's cute, and ends up inviting him to her party that night.
But Alec is also struggling; life is a role for him, just as life is a play for Diana, and a photograph is for Isabel. Alec waits tables in a nightclub to make ends meet, while sexual partners perform on scaffolds at the cavernous end of the club and patrons view them through binoculars.
Based on the stage play by Amy Fox, Heist is an absolutely terrific film, which offers a brief glimpse into the lives of sophisticated Manhattanites in the habit of pointing out the "heights" of their urban sophistication. Each sees life from a distance and through a distorted lens; actually seeing inside themselves is what they do least of all.
Heights is packed with spot-on performances, not the least of which is Glen Close. She's very good at portraying both Diana's extreme egotism and her motherly concern for her child, whom she fears may be rushing into a marriage that is not for her. Close is an absolutely powerhouse, whether rehearsing the role of Lady Macbeth or corralling a stranger who appears at her party, her eyes focused deeply on his inquiring, "Do you merengue?"
The rest of the cast is equally distinctive and uniformly suburb, with kudos especially given to Banks who does a fine job of showing Isabel's frustration with Jonathan; she's a young woman with keen insight into others who is ultimately blind to her own needs and concerns.
First- time director Chris Terrio does a commendable job of opening the story up so it never feels stage bound. The disparate elements of the movie work like a little jigsaw puzzle, seducing us into the lives of characters via little slivers, then keeping us guessing about how those characters will collide and change one another.
Terrio is also effectively able to delve into what it means to live life rather than observe it, examining the many of the shades of gray between being less-than-honest with one's self, and being completely devious. Mike Leonard October 05.
Summary of Heights (Merchant Ivory Productions)
Five New Yorkers must make decisions overnight that will affect their futures.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD
Similar DVD Movies
Brush With FateLions Gate; Release date: 2003-10-21; Published: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $6.59
Price in other shops:
Brokeback Mountain (Widescreen Edition)NBC Universal; Release date: 2006-04-04; DVD
Best price: $1.89
Price in other shops:
The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)Fox; Release date: 2004-07-13; DVD
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops:
10th & WolfLions Gate; Release date: 2007-01-09; DVD
Best price: $6.27
Price in other shops:
GossipWarner Brothers; Release date: 2000-10-31; DVD
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
Breaking and EnteringGeneric; Release date: 2007-05-08; DVD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
The BoxWarner Brothers; Release date: 2010-02-23; DVD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Mr. & Mrs. BridgeEBH; Release date: 2011-07-12; DVD
Best price: $3.05
Price in other shops:
The 24th DayUniversal; Release date: 2004-08-31; Published: 2004-08-01; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The City of Your Final DestinationGaiam; Release date: 2010-08-17; DVD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: