Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Red_Identity This isn't great or anything, but it gets the job done well enough. Blanchett gives us some incredibly strong work early on especially, in a pretty heartbreaking scene. Giovanni Ribisy is a great lead and I'd wish he'd gotten more role likes this throughout the years, he clearly has the looks. The film manages to have a few turns in the story without getting too bogged down in its own head and while never feeling too over-the-top and still feeling sort of graceful in its execution. The whole thing does have this really quiet tone to it, when it could've easily felt overdone and overcooked. In that regard I do give it major props, not being too clichéd.

mapr9 This movie is ironically entitled Heaven. Phillipa(Blanchett) goes through literally Hell, through the entire movie. Perhaps the only moments of hope she has, are those alongside to Filippo (Ribisi). And it's as if she "learns" to love him back for everything he does for her throughout the movie.The movie is very slow paced. Not a lot happens, and even minutes after the first half the main plot hasn't resolved yet. This can work on either way... as a suspense-builder or make it a boring movie.The soundtrack, the scenery and the directing are amazing. It's just fitting. Blanchett as usual is perfect, but for some reason, this just doesn't strike me as a role for her. Ribisi, who speaks flawless Italian, proves he can also be the leading man. Again, like most of his characters, there is a hidden, kind of obssessive force that gets him doing things, but that's the beauty of his character here. No one knows how or why, but he falls for Blanchett's character and goes to great pains to help her. An unusual love story.

vitaleralphlouis Watching this a second time on rental from Video Vault, I wanted to see exactly why I fell so hard for Cate Blanchet, specifically in this movie. I also showed part of it to my oldest friend who said, "My God, she's beautiful." This quite true though she retains the same jeans, white T-shirt and athletic shoes wardrobe from start to finish. (Important spoilers: There is no nude scene. #2. There is no sex scene either).Set beautifully in Italy, Cate plays a recent widow hell-bent on revenge against the man who killed her husband. In trying to destroy her enemy, she accidentally murders a man and his two young daughters, a cleaning woman; but NOT her intended target. In police custody and in deep remorse, a young policeman falls for her and plans her escape. The heart of the movie is the relationship between this young man and how he courts her and helps her at the risk of his own destruction. Give the filmmakers credit by nailing this with 100% credibility. A person would have to have once known truly strong love to have made this film.As a mature man with plenty of experience I can tell you that I was envious in the extreme of this young man's situation every minute that Cate was on screen. This you do not get often.From 2004 through 2008, Hollywood has offered virtually nothing for adult audiences above the age of 11. You don't have to accept their junk. There are ample movies like this one available at Netflix and elsewhere, and they don't cost $11 a person to see.

dromasca I am a great fan of Cate Blanchett which seems unable to be less than superb lately, and this film is no exception. She radiates an interior beauty that is equal only to Katharine Hepburn's in her best years. Her presence in a film is enough reason for me to like it.Tom Tykwer's 'Heaven' gives however more reasons of satisfaction. It starts like a crime story with a British teacher in Italy killing four people while trying to revenge the death of her husband. While under questioning for the crime a young policeman falls in love with her, and here the movie turns into one of the most beautiful love stories I have seen later. The younger man will help her escape against any logic but the logic of love. The unavoidable end is superb, reminding Arthur Penn's 'Bonnie and Clyde'.The movie is also a testimony of the talent of the great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski who wrote the script, and maybe intended to make the movie. Certainly, a movie of Kieslowski would have looked different, but the result here is not bad at all either.