"That's a nice-a donut."
Monday, March 13, 2006
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Before Peter Jackson was an award-winning director of big-budget smash hits of classic literature or remakes of classic cinema, he was actually a respected small-film director. One of those earlier films was Heavenly Creatures. Based on a true story in New Zealand in 1953-54, it is a stirring and lively tale of the joys and ups and downs of a childhood friendship. And, ultimately, a friendship gone very wrong. Jackson makes the interesting decision to start things off from the very end: after a short, 1950s era New Zealand promotional film which showcases its wholesome nature and lovely scenery and small-town feel, he shows us some quick cuts of two girls bloodied and running for their lives. We learn that someone's mummy has been hurt badly, but we don't yet know why.
Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) is a shy, withdrawn young teenager without many (or perhaps any) friends. That changes one day when Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet), a lively rambunctious girl from a wealthy family, joins her class in school. They become close friends almost instantly and begin spending nearly all of their time together. They begin to make up imaginative and elaborate stories, and eventually harbor dreams of leaving and going to the United States to be movie stars. Meanwhile, their parents begin to get increasingly concerned about their closeness. They try to put a stop to them seeing each other, but the girls plot a ghastly revenge.
It's certainly not entirely a serious drama though - plenty of moments of humor are here, and you will marvel at some of the small effects for the fantasies. Their friendship abounds with much imagination and creativity and throughout much of the movie, their fantasies come to life. The thoughts and experiences of everyday places, people and things grow into fantastic new larger, than life things. The "heavenly creatures" are human-like incarnations in their fantasies, as large model figures, sort of like the toy Army Men (Juliet makes very impressively detailed figures out of clay). These fantasies and obsessions compromise a vast array of topics including unicorns, the British Royal family, Italian tenor singer Mario Lanza, and the hideousness of Orson Welles (circa The Third Man).
Lynskey and Winslet completely engross themselves in their roles; of course their talents would manifest in subsequent years in more adult roles. It was probably a tad easier for Winslet as Juliet is the showier role since she is very outgoing and confident, but Lynskey is also very impressive and clearly does fine work here. And Peirse is wonderful too as the disliked and ill-fated mother Honora. The scenery is also a treat, years before a cast of hobbits made New Zealand a tourist mecca.
It's a very good easy movie to watch, but may actually have been a bit more interesting if it concentrated less on the grownups and their struggles and faults (particularly the infidelity of Juliet's mom) and made the "adult" world a bit more mysterious - just like it surely was for the teens. But I really liked how Pauline and Juliet's relationship is filmed very much like an obsessive love story, as opposed to a simple tale of "girls will be girls." It's an impressive effort and easy to see why New Line would later have so much confidence in the director. And, yes, Jackson makes his customary cameo appearance in a non-speaking role (see if you can spot him).
The Verdict: B+.
Michael Bentley 11:24 AM
Archives
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
|
|
|
|
