Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures (1994) – Movie Review

Director: Peter Jackson

Screenwriters: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh

Producers:Jim Booth

Studio/s: New Zealand Film Commission, Miramax (Dist)

Production Companies: WingNut Films, Fontana Productions

Top Billed Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet

LOGLINE: The True Story of a couple of teenage murderesses.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I watched this after having seen all of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films and most of Peter Jackson's earlier stuff. Not so much because I was interested in the film but more in Peter Jackson's career, and in particular his amazing leap from stuff like Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles to Lord of the Rings. This film didn't completely fill the gap, but I could see PJ's maturation as a filmmaker emerging in this film. The magic realism (fantastical stuff) lends it's self to his style which was previously mostly used on horror films.

STORY: The story is told artfully. There is narration in the form of diary entries and there are places where the story takes a break from narrative to go into a song or a dance, not quite like a musical but almost.

PRODUCTION: Kiwiesque, which is to say not your typical Hollywood production, which is to say not quiet as smooth or slick.

PERFORMANCE: Melanie is great - I don't know why she isn't used in more than Two and a Half Men! And Kate in her first real role is the real deal and you can see why she went on to become Kate Winslet.

OVERALL: A good film, worth a watch but it probably won't find a place of high rotation on my DVD player.

MEETSLINE: A Clockwork Orange meets Breakfast Club.

RATING:

3 out of 5 reels of film.

Movie Review by A.B. McBlogsmith the Backwards Cap Film Reviewer

(C) Review Flix 2011