Heavenly Creatures–**** (of 4)

This is one of the most disturbing films you’ll love this year, and today

and Thursday are your last chances to see it. Its run at the Terrace ends

this week, and you’ll hate yourself for missing it. A true story set in

1950s New Zealand, this tale of young love and murder is visually stunning

and thematically haunting.

Paulina and Juliet, an introvert and an extrovert, become fast friends,

sharing ultra-vivid imaginations and above-average artistic skills. Through

their shared fantasies, they escape the pitfalls of teen trauma and fall in

love.

In the classic “society-coming-down-on-the-truly-creative-folks” scenario,

the girls’ parents see their relationship as unhealthy and “unwholesome,”

and determine to keep the girls apart. The girls hatch a plan to stay

together, with murder on their minds.

Despite the ominous cloud of homicide, the film is lighthearted and

uplifting for the most part. The girls’ fantasy world is enthralling and

humorous, involving a love of tenor Mario Lanza and an enchanted fear of

Orson Welles. By drawing the viewer’s sympathies toward the two main

characters as well as their victim, Heavenly Creatures scores a

direct hit to the senses. You’ll walk out of the theater and you won’t know

what to say.

Video Pick: Heathers

Death and the Maiden— ***

Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley offer strong performances in Roman

Polanski’s latest film, taken from the stage production of the same name.

Though fairly predictable, the actors charge the film with tension and

toughness.

Sigourney Weaver is the toughest as Pauline Escobar, a former political

prisoner living in an unnamed South American country. The fascist regime by

which she was tortured has fallen, but she still lives in fear of being

“disappeared.”

The playwright’s assumption that toppled fascist dictatorships are generic

to South America seems offensive, even in lieu of the film’s underlying PC

human rights message. One would think some better homework could have been

done.

Weaver’s Pauline is a quirky character. She has a habit of answering the

door with a loaded gun. Maybe it’s from all those Alien movies, but

Weaver handles a gun like a pro. She means nothing but business from the

word “Go.”

A certain Dr. Miranda (Ben Kingsley) shows up at her house under seemingly

innocent circumstances. Pauline’s reaction is to sneak out the back door

and steal the doctor’s car. When she comes home and ties the doctor to a

chair, the fun really begins.

The limited set and the blinking lighthouse in the background work to

anchor this film in “stage-ness.” I might not have noticed, but the opening

credits point it out in big letters. This opens the story with a theatrical

mood which it doesn’t shake. While not extremely intrusive, this is

noticeable and distracting.

Video Pick: Missing or Salvador