3 reviews
Pink was nothing is this movie, so don't get excited.
Heaven's Story goes for the big themes that move us, life, death, revenge, even love, in an odd non-romantic way. Where others would have taken two hours to tell the story, he took us through four and a half hours (I have been thinking that it can be considered a quality that three quarters of the audience stayed until the very end).
The story picks up after two homicides that interrupt two very different families which the survivors' search for revenge connects.
The human stands in the very center of this movie. The camera hardly ever leaves the characters alone. It doesn't shy away from their anger and despair (maybe a bit less shouting would have worked as well). The film follows the characters in their search "to be remembered by the unborn", as one of the murderers explains why he has killed. The individual is contrasted only by the anonymous city suburbs full of building blocks, just a couple of people, out of millions and millions. And the landscapes, the ocean, heaven, the mountains, in their four seasons. The camera-work is outstanding, always focusing on the characters, and how they fit, or rather, how they not fit in their environment.
One of the characters asks: "Take me some place that surprises me and I let you go." He takes her to the beach where she can finally let out her anger and frustration. They are all outsiders, without a social life. Yet they go on, in search of being remembered by someone, anyone.
Heaven's Story goes for the big themes that move us, life, death, revenge, even love, in an odd non-romantic way. Where others would have taken two hours to tell the story, he took us through four and a half hours (I have been thinking that it can be considered a quality that three quarters of the audience stayed until the very end).
The story picks up after two homicides that interrupt two very different families which the survivors' search for revenge connects.
The human stands in the very center of this movie. The camera hardly ever leaves the characters alone. It doesn't shy away from their anger and despair (maybe a bit less shouting would have worked as well). The film follows the characters in their search "to be remembered by the unborn", as one of the murderers explains why he has killed. The individual is contrasted only by the anonymous city suburbs full of building blocks, just a couple of people, out of millions and millions. And the landscapes, the ocean, heaven, the mountains, in their four seasons. The camera-work is outstanding, always focusing on the characters, and how they fit, or rather, how they not fit in their environment.
One of the characters asks: "Take me some place that surprises me and I let you go." He takes her to the beach where she can finally let out her anger and frustration. They are all outsiders, without a social life. Yet they go on, in search of being remembered by someone, anyone.
I would consider many parts of this movie "good" from an artistic perspective, but unfortunately it's overall too flawed to say I liked it. It is well acted and directed and the story is interesting and quite intense and suspenseful at times, but then it's also unrealistic and implausible, making it feel kind of weird and surreal throughout. Like a bad dream or something. It doesn't help that there are pretty much no likeable characters except maybe the main girl. It's bleak as hell so it's not a very enjoyable experience, emotionally. But I would still say that it's worth checking out and judging for yourself.
- mister_bateman
- Nov 18, 2020
- Permalink