Directed by:
Peter JacksonCinematography:
Alun BollingerCast:
Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Jed Brophy, Clive Merrison, Elizabeth Moody, Peter Jackson, Darien Takle, Ben Fransham, Jesse Griffin (more)Plots(1)
Director Peter Jackson helms this chilling true-life drama about an obsessive friendship. When circumstances bring together two imaginative teenage schoolgirls, they quickly form an unwavering bond, creating a fantasy world that only they can share. But when their parents become disturbed by the intensity of the friendship and threaten to keep them apart, the girls vow to stay together and devise a secret plan that leads to shocking consequences. (Miramax Films)
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Reviews (7)
A small film that allowed Peter to develop his filmmaking skills and extraordinary flexibility of moods and different accents like no other endeavor afterwards... in a sense, it is to me the pinnacle of the New Zealand Hobbit. The wonderful transition from the pink girl's diary to the bloody edition of adolescent psychopathology is magnificent, as are the eccentric but perfectly smooth jumps between worlds. And Kate is an enchanting psychotic single poem.
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If someone else had made it, it would have been a mere descriptive story, fit for prime time TV, but Peter Jackson turned it into a riveting film brimming with directorial ideas that are simply incredible. Who knows, maybe the Oscar nominations helped Jackson convinced the bosses at New Line Cinema to finance Lord of the Rings.
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Average content packaged in a brutally intellectual and visually distinctive guise that doesn’t fit everyone flawlessly. Peter Jackson is bursting with directorial ideas at every step, some are good, some not so much, but it is difficult for anyone to criticize his directorial talent in the end. However, the film does have its deaf spots, with some unconvincing scenes in terms of the performances of the actresses – their roles were extremely demanding, but somehow nobody cares. The cinematography is also memorable, which in many aspects (fast transition between whole and detail) reminds of the legendary B-movies on which Jackson built his career. Overall, however, the film is somewhat unrelatable for me as it revolves around two girls. The ending can be understood, yet it strongly contrasts with the rest of the story, which is at least peculiar.
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The 1950s hold promise for Peter Jackson, and it's a great pity that he couldn't experience them himself. In his films, they are captured beautifully, and the same goes for this movie set in the 1950s. That era is reflected in all of his films that aren't fantasy-related. Similarly, he is fascinated by murders, but in the filmmaking sense of the word. At least I hope that’s the case. Heavenly Creatures isn't as strong a film for me compared to his others, but there are scenes in it that will impress you. Especially the final one.
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Heavenly Creatures captivates mainly thanks to its chilling premise based on a true story and the amazing performances of Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey. In some of the fantasy sequences from the fourth world, you could feel Peter Jackson's later films, (The Lord of the Rings or The Lovely Bones) – already then, a deep sense of fictional worlds was dormant within him. Even though I knew from the beginning how the film would end, I was still on edge until the very end.
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