Review of Heavenly Creatures (1994) by Wrik S — 24 Oct 2010

In 1954 Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 girls murdered one of their mothers. Before the police arrested them they came upon a diary that told all about their friendship, their disintegrating perception of reality and their murderous plot.

The screenplay for Heavenly Creatures is based on Pauline Parker's diary, as well as the naration. Nominated for an Academy Award for original screenplay, this film focuses on the multiple perceptions of the Parker-Hulme events through '53 and '54. Heavenly creatures is a fantastically written narrative movie about Pauline and Juliet, two girls who create their own fantasy world to escape from their depressing real lives with their families. But the two girls's obsession becomes overwhelmed when their personal lives intervene and put their friendship in danger. This movie is as fantastic and colourful and it is haunting and disturbing because this story and their psychological state of mind was real.

This movie was directed and co-written by Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson. This is one of his earliest films and made him a lot more noticed after. His style in this movie is wonderful and stylish as the filming style changes from fantastic and wild to real and dark. When the girls are together the camera is a lot more wild and free using many different angles and lences, but it makes you think whether that style is used because they're in their fantasy land or because reality is overwhelming them. With the creative use of the camera, lighting and very cool special effects, this movie becomes all the more disturbing.

It's also very important to note Peter jackson's commitment to making the movie as true as he can to the real life events, beautifuly creating a small '1950s town, using Pauline's diary for the screenplay, and even shooting on location in Christchurch where the real events took place. To The Michael, that kind of commitment is very respectable and important to the enjoyability of the movie knowing that, unlike most true story movies, it's not 95% made up.

Introducing the first movie apperances and incredable preformance of Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey, Heavenly Creatures is a very different kind of movie, being a sweet and shocking all at the same time. Heavenly Creatures portrays one of New Zealand's most shocking crimes, and because of the directing, preforming and writing, Heavenly Creatures is also unforgettable.