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| Heaven(1987)
Year: 2002
Classification: Drama
Directed:
- Tom Tykwer
Actors/Actresses:
- Diane Keaton
- Joan Chen
Tykwer Creates a Heavenly Film
How can a sinner go to heaven? Tom Tykwer working from a script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski (BLUE, WHITE, RED) and his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz posits through acknowledgement of the sin and confession in HEAVEN.
Cate Blanchett is stunning, and filled with a deadly, single-minded purpose as Philippa, a woman seeking justice against a drug dealer who was responsible for the death of her husband and many others. When her explosive plan goes horribly wrong, she is horrified by her actions, yet still bent on her mission. However she is incarcerated by the Italian police for the crime, and only through the intervention by the officer translating named Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi) can she continue.
The first half of the film is superior than the latter half, but I enjoyed HEAVEN quite a bit. Working with the themes ofBR>love and destiny as in his earlier films (THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR and RUN, LOLA, RUN) HEAVEN also brings in some of the Christian notions of absolution and confession. The ending, while strongly symbolic, still manages to be breath-taking and powerful. I was less convinced of the Adam ; Eve symbolism in the film's penultimate moments.P>As a fan of Tykwer's work, I always feel as I've enjoyed a thoroughly cinematic work after witnessing one of his films. Tykwer and his cinematographer, Frank Griebe (Chlotrudis winner for LOLA) construct a beautiful film, with swooping crane and stunning aerial shots. The crowded Italian city, and expansive Italian countryside are wonderfully shot. Tykwer also uses sound and music effectively to convey his mood.
I was trying to delve into the whole "twin" aspect of the two characters, who share a name, a birthday, and halfway through the film, a look. With Filippo being born on the day Philippa received her first holy communion, it's possible that he is her spiritual self, offerring her a chance for redemption.
In any event, HEAVEN is a strong film, with lots to think about. I can only wonder what Kieslowski's unmade trilogy (HEAVEN, HELL and PURGATORY) would have come to.
Visually beautiful and a good script
When you put together a team that includes names such as producers Anthony Minghella (English patient), Sidney Pollack (Out of Africa, among others), a talented director like Tom Tikwer (Run Lola run) and excellent actors like Giovanni Ribisi (Saving private Ryan) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth), working under a script of the late Krzysztof Kieslowski (The french colors trilogy), you could only get an excellent movie, as "Heaven" surely is.
Cate Blanchett is Phillipa, a british living in Torino giving english classes. Her husband and several of her students suffer (or have already died) from drug abbuse, and even if she insistently warns the authorities against the italian city's druglord, nothing is done. Taking the matter in her own hands, Phillipa manages to get a bomb into the traffic-dealer's office, but something goes wrong and instead she kills four innocent people. Arrested, the only help she will get is from newtimer caribiniero Fillipo, magistraly performed by Giovanni Ribisi (speaking in italian). Fillipo will escape with her into the italian countryside, and there they will discover if indeed there's redemption for their sins and if they will find their way to heaven.
German director Tikwer was able to create a beautiful movie. The first half seems more like "Run Lola run", full of twists, action and sudden happenings. The second half is more spiritual, more visual and more thought-provoking. Some of the shots are incredibly beautiful, and the cinematography is one of the best I've seen lately. Even the actors go through amazing visual and symbolic transformations. To fully understand the movie, the viewer must pay attention and understand not only the characters actions, but their clothes, lines and other subtle things as well, all along with the incredible italian background.
I surely hope "Heaven" is only the first part of a movie-trilogy.
Grade 9.3/10
two films about fugitives
I can easily give this film 4 stars despite the fact that it has achieved relative obscurity compared to its "bigger brothers" ("Master and Commander" or "Cold Mountain");it does deserve the rating on artistic merits and bears comparison to another current film "The Statement" with which it shares a similar theme--2 fugitives from justice. The Blanchett film begins with a teacher's arrest for a "terrorist" act that misfires (she in fact wants to kill a drug lord with a bomb and eventually succeeds in doing so with a gun, with her lover's help), and her interrogation by the Italian police for 4 murders she in fact was responsible for. The second half concerns her escape from prison and subsequent love affair with Ribisi, who plays an interrogating cop who falls in love with her and her plight, and assists in her escape. The first part of the film is set in Torino, Italy, an urban architectural wonder, like most of Europe. The second half is mainly about these 2 fugitives from justice and their narrow escapes from the law,hiding out in vans, travelling by train across the Italian countryside,assisted by Ribisi's younger brother and by an old friend, culminating in a dramatic escape in an ascending helicopter while the carbonieri fill the air with a hail of gunshots skyward,hence the title, "Heaven". The question of how they morally resolve the 4 deaths they in fact were responsible for is not dealt with. Blanchett is strikingly beautiful both in this film and in 2003's "Veronica Guerin." BR>BR>"The Statement" is also about a fugitive from justice, in this case an officer in the French Vichy government accused of killing 7 Jews during World War II and hiding out in the South of France ever since. Based on a novel by Brian Moore, this film has rather subtle dramatic tension as Caine moves from French abbey to abbey,always on the run, shielded by the right-wing clergy for unknown reasons, while being chased by various French bounty hunters with different motives. There are scenes in the cafes of Provence,by the Marseilles harbor, and in numerous French abbeys which add cinematically to the film's style. Caine as Broussart commits 2 murders of would-be vigilantes by being quicker on the draw, and performs aBR>number of other escape acts, including one across the rooftops of Nice. All and all it adds up to a rather low-key thriller, with Caine in charge of his role as the former Vichy executioner, now a tired but devout Catholic,who just wants his life to end "in saving grace." Unfortunately, it doesn't work out quite that way. "The Statement" may not be a thrillride quite in the same vein as a James Bond movie, but it does have its moments and likewise deserves 4 stars, though some might find it boring.
Buy Heaven at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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